


The Last Archangel: Unspoken Regrets

by alatarmaia4, inukagome15



Series: The Last Archangel [11]
Category: Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Supernatural, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Fluff, Friendship, Gabriel (Supernatural) is Tony Stark, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, Kid Fic, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, References to Norse Religion & Lore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-07-26 17:48:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 64,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7584007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alatarmaia4/pseuds/alatarmaia4, https://archiveofourown.org/users/inukagome15/pseuds/inukagome15
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One didn't live for as long as he did without racking up a lot of regrets, most of which went ignored. But after being split into four, Gabriel finds some regrets are harder to ignore than others. It's just as well that they're relatively easy to solve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guess what, we wrote something new! And by 'wrote' I mean 'collaborated to create eighty pages of material in two hours and then abandoned for six months straight'. But it's definitely done, which is why it's being posted. 
> 
> I will be honest, I don't actually remember what triggered us writing this, but it was probably me and my fixation on a) Norse mythology and b) the role Gabriel-as-Loki played in Norse mythology. inukagome is just very, very willing to get on this wagon with me :)
> 
> _Okay, I definitely remember why we started this! Remember Four Aren't Better Than One? Events brought up Gabriel's time as Loki, including some really important characters that he had to leave behind. Considering his nature now, it didn't seem right that he'd leave it like that now, so we did something for it! Which led to this. And she's totally right that we left this unfinished for AGES._   
>  _I'm kinda tickled that AO3 seems to have a popup tag for "Gabriel is Tony Stark," since that wasn't there last time._
> 
> _In any case, it's finished now, and posts are going to be twice a week on Mondays and either Thursday/Friday. We haven't yet decided which day, and we haven't yet figured out how many chapters. Once this story's done, guess what's going up next?_

“Alright, you’ve been in here for like three days straight. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.”

Rhodey snorted. “Yeah, look me in the eye and say that.”

Tony did. “Absolutely nothing’s wrong.”

“I call bullshit,” Rhodey accused him. “It doesn’t matter how old you are, you’ve still got that tell.”

Tony said nothing, eyes narrowing slightly. No matter how much he’d tried to get Rhodey to tell him, the man never had revealed what tell told him that Tony was lying, claiming he needed some way of knowing when Tony was lying through his teeth.

“And I know you’re not mad at me,” Rhodey added, looking completely unimpressed.

Tony wasn’t annoyed, but that didn’t mean he felt comfortable about this. “I’ve been in here longer than three days before,” he said instead. “It’s not like I need to eat or sleep.”

“You’re hiding,” Rhodey said. “Or maybe just avoiding us. Point is, you’ve been down here for a while, which means something’s wrong.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“It always does. Something goes wrong, and you console yourself in your lab.” Rhodey slid onto the bench with his back to the table. “Seriously. What’s on your mind?”

Hesitant, Tony looked down. It wasn’t like his past was a secret anymore. The team had some idea of what had happened, even if he hadn’t told them everything. The topic was one that he still didn’t want to share, but it was something that was bothering him more with every day because he just couldn’t let it go.

He’d been able to do it before, but now…

“You’re making a face,” Rhodey said. “I’m pretty sure that’s your ‘something’s wrong’ face. Seriously, Tones. You can’t keep this stuff to yourself all the time.”

Rhodey did sound honestly worried for him.

And Tony was tired of running around in circles with no answer. He thought he knew what he should do, but was it the  _smart_  thing?

“It’s not something I like talking about,” Tony said finally, meeting Rhodey’s eyes.

“You don’t like talking about anything personal.” Rhodey seemed to realize his attempt at a joke fell flat. “Okay, not a funny thing. Is this about...” He made a few vague gestures. “The Doom thing?”

Tony copied the gestures, unable to restrain a small smirk at the face Rhodey pulled. “Really eloquent, platypus.”

“You’re changing the subject.” Rhodey waggled a finger at him. “Quit it.” He pulled his finger back before Tony could do anything to it. “And that’s my question answered.”

Seeing that Rhodey really wasn’t going to let this drop, Tony sighed, letting his head fall back. “You remember Loki being upset about Baldur?”

“If you’re going to tell me that Baldur is human now and has a personal vendetta against you, I’ve seriously got to question your Dad’s sense of humor.”

“That’d be nice,” Tony said, “but no. It’s about what happened before that led up to the Baldur thing.”

“The…oh.” Rhodey drew back slightly. “You mean…whatever Odin did that pissed you off.”

“Yeah…” Tony sighed again, ran his hands over his face, and then straightened. “As Loki, I adopted some kids.” Bluntness seemed like the best option.

“Seriously?”

“You don’t have to sound  _that_ surprised.”

“Huh.” Rhodey was quiet for a moment. “Well, this explains why you’re so good with the bots.”

“The ones I’m talking about weren’t  _that_ little.” Tony reconsidered. “Not by the time I met them, anyway. And you didn’t see me after the bots first got their bodies.” It had been so incredibly  _awkward_ , Tony trying to find his footing around beings he had accidentally Created and the bots feeling out the new boundaries that the change established.

“What kinda kids are we talking about, here?” Rhodey asked. “Because all I know about mythology is the Greeks, so I don’t know if you mean other people’s demigods—”

“The Greeks were basically the only ones who had that many,” Tony told him, grinning. “Not many others really saw the lure of getting down and dirty with humans.”

“You still haven’t answered the question,” Rhodey pointed out.

Tony looked down at his hands. “They were the ones everyone was scared of,” he said eventually. “The ones no one wanted to touch. They were…alone.” His eyes went back to Rhodey, smiling ruefully. “I got attached. The gods started talking, and soon everyone assumed I’d had some relations with someone – or a horse”—Rhodey made a noise that could have been him choking on something—“and I just let it go.” He still didn’t know where they’d gotten the horse story. “Everything was fine…” He drifted off, remembering what had happened when the prophecy had been given. “And then it wasn’t.”

“Odin?”

“He went after mine, so I went after his.” Gabriel’s voice was dark. “By that point I couldn’t do much, not without getting an entire pantheon and Heaven on my head.”

“But you went after Baldur,” Rhodey said.

“Him, not Odin,” Gabriel replied. “But I couldn’t do anything for  _them._ Not the four of them.” He sighed. “I got back at Odin, but…”

He could see the moment Rhodey understood. “You couldn’t undo what he’d done.”

“Not unless I wanted to out myself.” Gabriel snorted. “Not like being so careful about it did much good.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rhodey shifted, turning to face Gabriel more fully.

“I demoted myself to trickster after that,” Gabriel said, lifting one shoulder in a one-sided shrug. “And then I died. It’s…been a long time since I’ve thought about them.”

“Okay, wait.” Rhodey held up a hand. “You adopted kids, and they’re still wherever Odin left them? And then you just bailed on being Loki? When was the last time you saw them?”

Gabriel rubbed his forehead, eyes closing. “Before.” Before Odin had done what he had.

“Really helpful,” Rhodey scoffed. “This is what’s been eating you?”

“All my memories of being Loki got dug up again.” After the “Doom thing,” as Rhodey had called it. “For him – or that part of me, that was the most recent thing.”

“And now you can’t stop thinking about it.” Rhodey leaned back against the closest stable thing – a table – looking weary. “Let me guess…you don’t know what to do?”

“I could’ve seen them,” Gabriel said. “Or tried to, I don’t know. There was so much else going on…” He shuddered briefly, pressing his fingers into his forehead. “They might not even want to see me anymore.” He didn’t know whether the revelation of him being Gabriel had made it to any of them, and he wasn’t sure if he  _wanted_  to know.

“Is that what you’re confused about? Whether you should go and see if you can get them?” Rhodey sounded just a bit bewildered. “I mean…I get not remembering at the time considering all the other shit that went down, but you can do it now, can’t you?”

Archangel or not, walking back into that world was like wading into the Amazon River and hoping not to get bitten. “It’s not that simple.”

“Why not? You’re the one who masqueraded as a god. It can’t be that hard to keep going.” Rhodey shrugged. “Even if you haven’t been one for a while.”

“I can’t.” It came out sharper than Gabriel intended. He hesitated before explaining. “Last time I was around gods…my whole ‘god’ cover got blown wide open.”

Rhodey’s eyebrows flew up. “Okay…how did  _that_  happen?”

“Kali figured it out and decided to make an announcement.” Gabriel still didn’t know  _how_ she’d guessed. He might have opened up a little too much during one of the times they’d had sex; restraining himself to the levels of a god had always been difficult when doing it. “There happened to be a  _lot_ of other gods there at the time.” And even though they were all dead now thanks to Lucifer, the wings Gabriel’s death had to have left behind would have been an instant sign to any god investigating the hotel. Even if they didn’t know which angel had been masquerading as Loki, they’d still know it was  _an_  angel.

“And gods don’t like angels,” Rhodey said. “I remember that much.” He shook his head. “But you’re still leagues ahead of them. How is them knowing who you are an issue?”

“Look at it this way,” Gabriel said. “Piranhas aren’t much of a threat to you individually. You’re bigger, stronger, and you can stomp on them without a problem. But if you decide to go and take a swim in their territory, it doesn’t really matter how big you are.”

Rhodey took a moment to respond, eyes falling shut. “Now I can’t get the image of a bunch of gods nibbling at you out of my head. Thanks.”

Gabriel inclined his head, grinning briefly. “It gets the point across.”

“Except for the fact that humans can die of blood loss, and you’re more likely to go take a swim and then come out without a scratch and say it was a nice exfoliating experience.” Rhodey eyed Tony. “Besides, as you’ve mentioned before, it’s not like they know what you look like  _now_. You had a different vessel back then, didn’t you?”

“Physical appearance isn’t all of how we see each other,” Gabriel said. “Gods are more physically grounded than angels are, but they can still sense energy. I had to bury my Grace pretty deep back then under pagan magic to make sure none of them spotted it. No matter what I look like now, they’d still be able to see my Grace.” Back then it had helped that his vessel was an actual pagan god, but he didn’t have that protection now - and trying to use it would be pointless even if he did.

“But you’re not  _just_  an angel now,” Rhodey reminded him.

“If you think gods hate angels, they think humans are a delicacy.” Quite a few of them, at least. “Me pretending to be human would be even worse. They’d try to  _eat_  me.”

Rhodey seemed to take a moment to picture that happening, making a face. “Then that’s a no?”

“Definitely a no.”

Sighing, Rhodey uncrossed his arms, rubbed his hands over his face, and then crossed them again. “So, going back to the analogy of them being bloodthirsty piranhas and you being a – I don’t know – a turtle, maybe – an immortal turtle”—he gave Gabriel a look that told him not to say anything in response to this—“I don’t see the issue with you going there as yourself and trying to find your kids. If there’s a problem, you can take care of it. From what I understand, you’ve gone incognito long enough that you can do it again for a little bit longer. Wouldn’t a little danger be worth it if you get answers?”

That had been the answer Gabriel kept getting when he’d asked himself that question, but as much as he  _wanted_  to get them out and make sure they were all right, he didn’t want to know if they were upset with him. He didn’t want them to reject him for not being who he’d been pretending to be.

“You gonna answer me out loud, or just brood over it?” Rhodey pressed. “C’mon, I’m serious. I’ll come with you to make sure it goes okay.”

Gabriel’s head snapped up. “Like hell you are.”

“Like hell I  _am_ ,” Rhodey retorted, unmoving. “If I let you go  _alone_ , you’ll just stand around looking pretty and mopey and not do anything.”

“I—”

“ _Lie_ ,” Rhodey interrupted him, giving him a  _look_. “You want to reconnect with your kids and make sure they’re okay? I’m coming with you as honorary uncle.”

Gabriel stared at him, sensing nothing but pure stubbornness radiating from his best friend. Trying to reason with Rhodey would be akin to ramming his head against a brick wall, and he had better things to do with his time. “Fine,” he said finally, resigned. “But if you go up to a random god and start trying to ‘reconnect’ us, we’re both dead.”

Rhodey made a dismissive noise. “What do you think you’re there for? You’re pretty, Tones, but not  _that_  pretty.”

“If I end up having to bring you back from the dead, I’m taking you straight back here.”

“Unless Rhodey has a death wish, I don’t see how that’s possible,” Natasha said dryly from the entrance of the workshop, looking at both of them curiously. “What have you got in mind now, boys?”

“Road trip!” Rhodey said before Gabriel could lie. “Tony’s taking me to see his adopted kids from a previous life. There are quite possibly going to be piranhas involved.”

“That metaphor has gone too far,” Gabriel told him. “Stop comparing the gods to piranhas.”

To her credit, Natasha only raised her eyebrows, but Gabriel could sense her surprise.

“You started it,” Rhodey reminded him.

“This has to do with Baldur, I assume?” Natasha asked after a moment. “You said the myths were more accurate over there than here…” She smirked. “Was it at least a good looking horse?”

“Why is that always the first one everyone thinks of?” Gabriel groaned. “Only  _some_ of them are true. There was never a horse! I don’t even know where Sleipnir came from in the first place.”

“Look, it’s an eight-legged horse said to be Loki’s kid,” Rhodey said. “Forgive us for being curious.”

“You said adopted?” Natasha asked, saving Gabriel from having to gripe about how dirty humans could be.

“It’s not like I could actually have kids.” Not after the disaster the Nephilim made. “Being an angel and not technically a god. Kind of forbidden. The last thing I needed was to attract attention from Upstairs.”

Natasha nodded. “So you adopted some gods. And now you want to visit them?” There was another unvoiced question that Gabriel could sense hanging in the air.  _After what Odin did?_

“I…” Gabriel glanced at Rhodey. “I want to get them out.”

Natasha made a thoughtful noise. “If this involves you jumping universes again and being out of touch, we might want to run it past the others.”

Gabriel just knew he was going to regret this.

* * *

“So,” Tony started, “there’s something you should know.”

“ _You’re leaving again?_ ” You guessed with remarkable accuracy.

Or not so remarkable, considering he had the feed of the lab open on his StarkPad.

“One of these days you’re going to see something you don’t want to,” Tony said, sighing.

“Too late,” Sam muttered, ducking her head down between her shoulders. She was wearing one of Butterfingers’s old dresses and some ratty sneakers that looked like they were covered with grease.

Tony looked at her briefly before deciding he probably didn’t want to know how she’d gotten them so dirty. “I’ll be back sooner this time,” he promised.

“You weren’t supposed to leave,” Dummy said accusingly.

“I know, but…” Tony glanced again at the StarkPad. “How much did you hear?”

“We’ve got other siblings,” Butterfingers said plainly, “and you want to go find them.”

“So pretty much everything, then.” Tony sat down in front of them, crossing his legs in the Lotus position. “I can promise that nothing really bad is going to happen this time.”

“Can you really make that promise?” Dummy sounded highly skeptical, brow furrowed. “You’ve said that you can’t see  _everything_.”

“And the future’s ever-changing,” Butterfingers added. “That’s why you can’t predict lottery numbers.”

“I don’t tell you guys what the winning numbers are because we don’t need to win the lottery,” Tony said. “And I’m not sure I want to know what you would do with it. But this isn’t going to be as dangerous as last time I went to that universe.”

“They’re gods,” Dummy said. “And it sounded like you didn’t really get along.”

“Gods don’t really get along with anyone,” Tony assured him. “It’s practically in the job description. Besides, they’re not angels.”

“That doesn’t mean they’re not dangerous,” Butterfingers said.

“ _Some of them are destructive forces,_ ” You pointed out, browsing something on his StarkPad that looked like some really inaccurate pictures of Kali and Shiva.

“Do I look like a breeze to you?” Tony asked dryly. “It’ll be all right. I’ve been undercover before.”

“But they know,” Sam said, peering up at him. “You said that.”

“And I know them.” Tony reached out to ruffle her hair, smiling at her. “They don’t know me; not really.”

His kids were looking at him with eyes that told Tony they knew he was full of bullshit but didn’t really want to call him on it.

Tony appreciated it.

“So, how old are they?” Butterfingers eventually settled on asking.

“Well…” Tony scratched the back of his head, considering the question. Technically speaking, they should have been adults now, but whatever Odin had done would have arrested the aging process.

“You don’t know, do you?” Dummy said when he didn’t answer.

“I know how old they are,” Tony defended himself. “Roughly. Knowing their  _exact_ age would mean I knew when they were born.” And seeing as where gods even came from was still a mystery, mostly, he doubted he’d find out. He wasn’t even entirely certain how old  _he_  was.

“They’re still kids?” Sam had her head tilted to the side.

“Ish?” Tony shrugged. “More like teenagers.” He was fairly sure of that, at least.

“ _You didn’t have the terrible twos,_ ” You said eventually, “ _so now you have teenagers to worry about._ ”

“You are kidding me, right?  _You_ guys had that phase.” Dummy still hadn’t grown out of his terrible twos phase before Tony gave him his body. Besides, gods were recalcitrant enough that Tony felt confident he could deal with teenagers. Even if he was sort of their parent.

“Well,  _we_  didn’t have humanoid bodies at that point,” Butterfingers pointed out. “We just threw stuff. And sprayed you with the fire extinguisher. It’s not like we threw tantrums.”

“You had the robotic equivalent of sulking fits,” Tony reminded her. “Which was basically just sulking.”

When the others didn’t say anything in their defense, Sam eventually offered hesitantly, “You probably did something bad.”

“As  _if_.” Tony grinned brightly. “More like Dummy over there tried poisoning me with motor oil in my coffee and Butterfingers almost dropped a car on my head. You just set fire to the workshop.”

“ _No one told me it was flammable!_ ” You protested.

“The motor oil can looked awfully like the coffee,” Dummy admitted reluctantly. “My camera wasn’t very good.”

Butterfingers just wrinkled her nose, staring imperiously at Tony. “You didn’t design my grip very well. I couldn’t hold onto the bumper like that.”

“I made you two before I was twenty. I may be a genius by human standards, but I’m not perfect.”

“So it wasn’t really  _our_  fault we kept messing up,” Butterfingers insisted. “And yet you kept scolding us.”

“In the vain, vain hope that you would eventually learn that the motor oil can was nowhere near the coffee machine and that you should never ever take a blowtorch near an oil spill.” Tony tweaked Butterfingers’s nose before she could argue further, grinning as she went cross-eyed. “We good?”

“You’re going to come back, right?” Dummy scooted closer to him, wrapping his hands around Tony’s arm.

“I promised you before,” Tony said gently, “I’ll always be here with you.”

“That was a cop-out last time,” Butterfingers accused him. “We can’t see your spirit!”

“Then I’ll give you the more solid promise that I will definitely be coming back,” Tony said. “I mean it.”

His kids digested this promise for a few seconds before Sam spoke again. “Are you going to bring someone else back with you like me?”

There was no one quite like Sam, but Tony wasn’t anywhere near prepared to broach that topic with her, even if she knew that she didn’t come from here. “No promises on that,” he said instead.

“So, when are you leaving?” Dummy asked.

“Just as soon as I can make sure we’ve got things sorted out,” Tony said, pressing his lips briefly to Dummy’s head. “C’mon. Let’s go see who’s going to finagle their way onto this mission aside from Rhodey.”

* * *

“No, you’re not coming,” Gabriel told Gadreel for the fifth time. “You scream angel to anyone looking. That’s not going to help.”

“You are also an angel,” Gadreel pointed out.

“And I’ve been a god and a trickster and a human. I can be something else that they won’t notice.”

“I would like to come,” Jarvis said, though his tone was resigned.

“J…” Gabriel sighed, resting a hand on his shoulder. “If someone tries to do something to you, it’s not going to be pretty. I’d rather not risk that happening. Besides, I need someone to run the suit.”

Jarvis set his jaw. “I can do it remotely.”

“Then for the sake of my heart, please stay here where no gods or curious angels and demons wanting a morsel of your unfamiliar soul are waiting.” It had been far too close a call with Jehoel for Gabriel to want to go through that again.

Jarvis visibly hesitated. “I just wish to—”

“I know, you want to be there to make sure I’m safe,” Gabriel finished. “It’s not gonna be like last time. The only archangels there are Raphael and Castiel, and we’re not dealing with Heaven this time around. I promise nothing’s going to happen. I’m apparently a turtle.”

“I thought we said that metaphor was dead,” Rhodey complained.

“Rhodey, you compared me to an immortal turtle. I’m not letting that one go.”

“Turtles do live pretty long lives,” Steve pointed out. “Immortal isn’t that far off.”

“Why are you going along with this?” Peggy asked, shooting Steve a pained look. “This isn’t helping.”

Steve just shrugged in response. “It’s not a bad comparison, is all I’m saying. But turtle or not, I’d feel more comfortable if you had someone else going with you.”

“I am,” Rhodey said.

“You’re only one person,” Peggy pointed out. “I agree with Steve.”

“A big group isn’t a great idea,” Gabriel said. “The idea is to  _not_ attract attention. And you guys are all human.”

“Right.” James tilted his head. “I remember you saying something about gods eating us for breakfast.”

“And all the other main meals, but yes.”

“If the idea is not to attract attention, you need someone who can slip under the radar,” Natasha said.

“While I’d usually be all for traveling and seeing new sights and possibly extorting embarrassing stories out of Tony’s old family, the cannibalistic gods are putting me off,” Clint said, putting his hands up. “I’m out.”

“It’s technically only cannibalizing if they’re eating their own species—”

“I don’t think we need to talk about technicalities.” Rhodey cut him off. “And now you sound like you’re making excuses for them.”

Gabriel made a face, then turned to the others. “No more than three,” he said finally. “If things go pear-shaped – and they probably will considering my luck – I need to be sure I can get us out.”

“A Hulk isn’t very subtle either,” Bruce said, smiling resignedly. “Maybe another time when we’re not trying to hide from evil gods.”

“You’re not going,” Peggy told Steve. “You’re many things, but subtle is not one of them.”

Steve looked disappointed for all of a second before nodding. “If we’re going subtle and Clint’s not going, that really just leaves you two.” He looked between James and Natasha.

“The smaller the group, the better,” Gabriel said. “I’m fine with just Rhodey—”

“I’d feel more comfortable if you had more backup,” Steve said.

“You do realize that I’m not human, right? Any backup I have is just going to slow me down. Rhodey’s just going because he can’t take a no.”

“And because you know you won’t do a thing without me kicking your ass,” Rhodey said.

“If you’re not human, you should find it all the easier to make sure we’re all right,” Natasha said, taking Gabriel by surprise. “This should be entertaining.”

James exhaled loudly. “Well, if you’re going, then I’m coming with.”

Gabriel looked at them, confused. “You… _want_  to come?”

“I’ve always loved traveling,” Natasha said, the words half-truthful.

“I’m just going with her,” James said bluntly.

“Is this because you stayed behind last time?” Gabriel asked.

“Partly,” Natasha admitted. “I know crossing universes is hardly the kind of travel I’m used to. You don’t have to warn us about the dangers. Or do everything alone just because you think you have to.”

“Personally,” James said, “I think this other universe can hardly be more dangerous than this one.”

“You’d be surprised,” Gabriel told him. “Some of the things there can be pretty nasty.”

“I thought protection was what we had you for.”

“That’s what I said.” Rhodey spoke up. “And there’s Sam and Dean, right? Those guys fight monsters all the time.”

“Yeah, but they’re only human.” Never mind they had gone up against beings other humans would run away from, this was one thing Gabriel wouldn’t be entrusting to them. For hunters, stabbing always came before asking questions. “At any rate, this has to be handled delicately, and those two are the opposite of delicate.”

“When were you planning on going?” Peggy asked. “I assume you didn’t call us here seconds before the actual journey just so we didn’t wonder where you’d gone.”

“Not right away—”

“I don’t think it’s something we should put off, though,” Rhodey said. He was giving Gabriel a look. “Seriously. From what you said, I get the feeling it’s already been a while since you’ve seen these guys.”

Gabriel looked down at his feet. “It’s…been a really long time, even for gods.”

“Loki said that the last century he remembered was the fifteenth,” Natasha said. “And since you claim you left soon after it happened…”

“Six hundred years?” Bruce’s eyebrows had disappeared into his hair.

When Gabriel didn’t answer, Rhodey nodded curtly and said, “So, the sooner the better, then. Let’s give Pepper the news so she’s updated.”

* * *

After warning them not to bring any guns since the only thing bullets would do was annoy any gods they’d shoot at, Gabriel made sure they were all as prepared as they could be for the journey.

Rhodey still had several days before he was due to report back, and Gabriel wasn’t worried about this taking as long as last time.

That didn’t mean he wasn’t worried, though.

He hadn’t seen any of them in ages; he had no idea how they’d react to seeing him again, or how their various situations might have changed them. Fenris in particular…

Gabriel didn’t know what he might be walking into.

“Don’t be so worried,” Rhodey said softly, bumping shoulders with him. “It’ll work out.”

Giving Rhodey a brief smile, Gabriel nodded, clapped Rhodey’s shoulder once, and then told them all to take their positions. “No moving around. Traveling between universes is a little trickier than just going from point A to point B on a map, and I don’t want to lose you somewhere in the middle.”

“Couldn’t you find us again?” Natasha asked, hand pressing momentarily to her ribs where the sigils were inscribed.

“Maaayybeee,” Gabriel drawled, “but I can guarantee that the brief period of time between me losing you and then finding you will be very unpleasant. As in, fatally unpleasant. And I’d rather not bring you back from the dead; Death’s kind of picky about that.”

“Let’s avoid dying at all this time, hm?” Steve gave Gabriel a smile that was just a bit too bright to be natural. “And no haring off to keep them safe without talking it over.”

“Yes, dear.” Gabriel leaned down slightly to press kisses to the bots’ heads. “I’ll be back soon. Don’t give them any gray hairs I wouldn’t.”

“ _You do a lot of things that would give people gray hairs_ ,” You said.

“Well, I’d hate to forbid you from having  _any_  fun while I’m gone.”

“Bring back pictures,” Butterfingers said insistently. “Or bring them back with you. I like getting more siblings.”

“That’s their decision,” said Gabriel, privately doubting that any of the four they were going to find would  _want_ to. “I’ll let them know it’s an open offer, though.”

“Is this going to become a thing?” Clint asked. “You occasionally leave and then come back with more family members?”

“I don’t have  _that_ many kids I could bring back.” Gabriel scoffed, straightening.

“It would keep things interesting,” Natasha mused, a grin pulling at her mouth. “We’d never know who might show up to stay.”

“If I brought back everyone who had the slightest connection to me, I doubt you’d be that thrilled,” Gabriel said dryly.

“We’ve had pretty good luck with who we have now,” Bruce said, giving Gadreel and Sam glances.

“I’ll be sure to remind you of that once you meet some of my other siblings.” He could picture Naomi getting along absolutely fabulously with James and Natasha. The tower would probably explode within a day with the rest of the team joining in.

“If they’re all as bad as you, this planet is going to implode,” Rhodey said, though his tone was fond.

“Gabriel is unique,” Gadreel assured Rhodey, not seeming to realize that this could be interpreted in a negative way.

“There’s no one quite like me,” Gabriel agreed, giving them all a shit-eating grin.

“I’m thinking we’re going to regret this,” Natasha said, glancing sidelong at James.

“Probably,” James said, sounding completely unconcerned about it.

“It’ll be fun,” Rhodey said. “At least if we do, it’ll have been worth it.”

“Glad to see you’ve all got such faith in me,” Gabriel said.

“I’m just saying, man, your track record is really shady with these things.”

Gabriel took a moment to consider that before having to concede Rhodey had a point. “All right, fine.” He pulled him closer, looping an arm around Rhodey’s shoulders and crooking a finger at his other two companions. “Ready to go sight-seeing?”

“It’s a shame,” Natasha said, stepping closer to him. “I don’t have a camera.”

“You have your phone,” Gabriel said, unimpressed with her wit.

“Please don’t get killed because you stopped to take a picture,” Steve said, lips twitching slightly. “We’ll hold the fort here.”

Giving his family and friends one last smile, Gabriel nodded. Then, with a breath, he  _pushed_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are appreciated as always, please! :) We have a lot in store!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tada, new chapter, in which we return (yet again) to the Winchesters! inukagome's put in some lil snapshots of what life there is like after the whole supernatural revelation thing. Not a whole lot of action in this one, but we'll get to that soon enough!
> 
> My sibling's been doing this thing for their story for writing camp where they title each chapter with a song that can be listened to while you read the chapter to set the mood. I kinda wish I could do something like that for this story. That would be cool, right?
> 
>  _Right, these snapshots are basically what hints we have of what's been happening in the SPN 'verse since_ Redemption. _Buuuttt, I can tell you that eventually we'll have a time stamp involving Chuck getting punched! And there'll be some more info in that. Possibly. I'm not 100% sure yet. :D_  
>  _In any case, super glad you guys are enjoying it so far. We still don't have a fixed number of chapters, but it's definitely more than 5! It might be 10 in the end._

They landed heavily on the dirt road, barely managing to stay on their feet.

“Is it like that every time?” Rhodey was leaning on Gabriel, trying to get his breath back.

“Basically, yeah.”

“Where  _is_ this?” James glanced around at their surroundings, eyeing the door set partway into the ground. “It looks like some paranoid dude’s bunker.”

“Well, you’re not wrong.” Gabriel glanced at the black car sitting in the road near them. “At least they’re home.”

Natasha gave the car a thoughtful glance. “I wouldn’t expect anyone living somewhere like this to have such an oldies car.”

“Dean would probably take that as a personal offense if you called it that to his face,” Gabriel said. “So please, do. It’ll be hilarious.”

“I think I’ll hold off on antagonizing these guys until I’ve actually met them,” James said.

“You’re about to.” Gabriel headed for the door. Hopefully someone was close enough to hear him knocking.

As it turned out, someone was.

Sam looked only mildly surprised to see him. “What are you doing here?”

“That’s what you’re gonna open with, really? Honestly, Sam, I’m hurt.” Gabriel could hear Rhodey snort behind him.

Sam looked unimpressed. “I didn’t think anything would come up to bring you back here.” He suddenly looked worried. “Nothing has, has it?”

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Gabriel said. “Not like last time I was here, at least.”

“Oh. Good.” Sam seemed to realize he was blocking the door and hurriedly stood aside to let them inside. He gave James’s arm a curious look as the latter passed.

“Sam, right?” Rhodey asked as Sam closed the door behind them. Natasha and James were looking around the bunker curiously.

“Yeah,” Sam said. “And you’re…?”

“James Rhodes.” He offered his hand, which Sam took.

“This place looks like it came straight out of 1950,” James said.

“It kinda did,” Sam told him. “I don’t know the exact date, but no one but Dean and I have touched it in a while.”

“What is this place, anyway?” Natasha asked.

“We just call it the bunker,” Sam said. “It was a base for a group called the Men of Letters.”

Rhodey gave Sam a moment to elaborate. When he didn’t, Rhodey clearly couldn’t resist asking, “Did they send each other letters?”

Sam blinked, frowning briefly, before realizing what Rhodey was getting at. “No! I mean, they probably did, but that’s not why they’re called that. They were researchers who studied the supernatural.”

“So it’s ‘letters’ because they’re learned?” Natasha asked.

“Yes.” Sam shot Rhodey a look. “You’re his best friend, aren’t you.”

Rhodey looked pleased at having been found out. “How’d you guess?”

Snorting, Sam shook his head. He moved down the stairs to the lower level, not bothering to check and see if they were following.

Gabriel was pleased to see that the TV he’d snapped up last time was set up in the library with clear signs that the brothers had been using it on a regular basis.

“Don’t get smug,” Sam warned him. “It’s the only thing in here that gets all the shows.”

Gabriel waggled his eyebrows. “Of course it does. Where’s your brother?”

“Out.”

“So I imagined his Baby sitting out there?”

“His  _what_?” James’s eyebrows disappeared into his hair.

“Cas took him,” Sam explained. “He’ll be back soon, and I’d rather not hear you say ‘Baby’ in that tone of voice ever again. What are you doing here?”

“I can’t visit my favorite hunters?” Gabriel affected an injured tone that had Sam rolling his eyes.

“Gabriel, come on.”

Barely resisting the urge to imitate Sam’s tone, Gabriel pulled away from Rhodey’s elbow jab in favor of returning Rhodey’s pointed look with his own. “As it happens, we’re here on business. Just doing you the courtesy of dropping by to let you know that some things might be happening.”

“Things?” Sam’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What kind of  _things_?”

“Relax, sasquatch. It’s nothing that’ll get you into trouble.”

“But someone’s going to get into trouble?”

“It’s Tony,” Rhodey said. “ _Someone’s_  going to be in trouble one way or another.”

Before Gabriel could make a half-hearted attempt at protesting this, both Natasha and James nodded their agreement.

“I’ll have you know that I only cause reasonable amounts of trouble,” Gabriel said, falsely haughtily.

“Reasonable for you or regular people?” Natasha asked.

“Be honest, no one here’s a regular person.”

There was a noise from Sam that could have been a stifled snort, but the only thing Gabriel saw when he looked was him nodding.

“As long as it’s none of us…” Sam shrugged, waving a hand. “I’ll let Dean know what you said.”

“What makes you think we’re leaving before Dean-o comes back?” Gabriel spun around and plopped himself down in chair with a perfect view of the TV, flicking it on. “I need a word with Castiel, anyway.”

“Urgh, fine.” Sam gave the other three humans in the room a hapless look. “Just...don’t touch anything.”

Gabriel pointedly poked the table. Just because.

“I set myself up for that one,” was all he heard Sam mutter before the other left the room.

“You are so mature,” Rhodey said, shifting his weight uneasily.

“I am,” Gabriel admitted easily. He helpfully nudged a chair over for Rhodey to sit in. “Sam wasn’t serious. There’s nothing here that’s dangerous; that’s all in the dungeon.”

Natasha leaned forward slightly. “They have a dungeon?”

“With chains and everything.” Gabriel waved in the direction Sam had gone. “Ask Sam to give you a tour. I think I saw some torture devices last time.”

While he’d put on the TV for lack of anything else to do, the news channel it had opened up on was actually pretty...interesting.

If “interesting” was the right word for watching one of his siblings try to answer questions on religion and theology and not seem to care what their answers did to the host’s brain.

“Do you know who that is?” Rhodey asked after a few moments of watching the host aimlessly shuffle their cue cards while trying to think of something to say.

“Can’t tell through a screen,” Gabriel said, changing channels to see if anything else like that was going on.

Another channel had something like a roaring debate going on between historians and another angel as to what Babylon was really like, with his sibling taking every question and talking point literally. Then there was a documentary on Egypt with a hysterical commentary by an angel who kept saying everything was wrong.

“So…people know about you guys here?” James’s brow was furrowed.

“Since the last time I was here, yeah.” Gabriel changed channels one last time to a Spanish soap opera and left it there. “They seem to have adapted pretty well.”

“More so in the West,” Sam said, returning with a cup of coffee in hand. He gave Gabriel a look that promised pain if he made a fuss about the lack of coffee for everyone else. “There’ve been a lot more disagreements in other areas – the ones that aren’t Christian.”

“How’s the reaction been to that?” From Gabriel’s experience, his siblings fell into two camps with non-believers: they either didn’t care or cared  _too_  much.

“Well…it’s pretty hard to deny  _that_ ,” Sam said, making to gesture to the TV before realizing that it was currently playing a soppy love scene between two distraught lovers. “The angels, I mean. So there’ve been a lot of reevaluations, but there’ve been more discussions on the pagans and how that fits into everything. I’ve seen a lot of excited threads on the confirmation that the gods are real.”

“The whole eating people thing doesn’t worry them?” Rhodey asked.

Sam shrugged. “They seem more peeved about the fact that hunters keep killing them.”

“I wouldn’t worry,” Gabriel said. “Gods don’t go down that easily. A stake works for a century, tops – it’s forgetting that really kills them.”

“Seriously?” Sam made a face. “So we ganked Paris Hilton for nothing.”

“Excuse me?” James was making a strange face, and Natasha looked stoic in a way that Gabriel knew meant she was doing her best not to laugh.

“I feel like I’m going to regret asking this, but  _why_  did you kill Paris Hilton?” Rhodey looked like he was dreading the answer.

“It wasn’t  _really_  Paris,” Sam said. “Just a kind of god that looked like her. And she was eating people - she tried to eat  _us_. It’s not like we could’ve let that go.”

“Who?” Gabriel asked, mentally thinking over who was likely to impersonate Paris Hilton. Of the gods that he knew, he could think of more than a few.

“Uh…” Sam looked thoughtful for a moment. “A…leshii, I think.”

“So anyone you know?” Rhodey questioned, looking curious.

“I doubt it,” Gabriel said. “But I’m not too surprised they turned to eating humans. The bigger pantheons had it easier than the smaller gods when it came to holding onto their worshippers.”

“Right,” Sam said. “I almost forgot you’d know.”

“I’m almost offended that you could forget anything about me,” Gabriel said. “Am I not cool enough to stick in your mind?”

“Not everyone has perfect recall,” Rhodey reminded him.

“Whatever. I would’ve thought it’d be memorable considering you threatened me several times over with a wooden stick.”

“You mentioned a stake before,” James said. “I thought that was vampires.”

“Yeah, no,” Sam told him. “Vampires, you need to decapitate them. Pine stakes are for gods.”

“I thought you were supposed to behead zombies.”

“Don’t you remember what I said?” Gabriel nudged Rhodey’s leg. “Zombies are  _nuts_. There are a few different ways to do them in.”

“I think I missed that conversation,” Rhodey said.

“No, I remember that,” Natasha said, lips pursed. “It was during the Leviathan.”

“Our first zombie case ended with us nailing her to her coffin,” Sam mused, not seeming to see the looks Rhodey, James, and Natasha shot him. “But shooting them in the head works, too.”

“So why the coffin?” James asked.

“We didn’t know any better. Conflicting lore is just about the worst thing when you’re a hunter, but thankfully dealing with most monsters is pretty cut and dry.”

“And Hollywood movies aren’t accurate,” Rhodey guessed.

“We like watching them, if that’s what you mean,” Sam said. “They’re good for a laugh.”

“So, not accurate, then.”

There was a flutter of wings before a bag hit the table and Dean’s voice said, “If that’s Gabriel, I swear to God I will hit something. I can’t deal with anymore bullshit.”

Gabriel looked over his shoulder at Dean. “Hit something.”

“Preferably not me,” Castiel said, moving away from Dean to come closer to Gabriel. “What are you doing here, brother?”

“Not even a hello?” Gabriel scoffed. “It’s nothing like last time, I can promise that much.”

“Good,” Dean said. “I am  _definitely_ not willing to deal with more of your family.”

“Well, I didn’t say  _that_ …”

Sam looked constipated. “Who else are we missing? If there’s another archangel up there that hates humans and wants to kill all of us, I’m calling Crowley and selling my soul.”

“He’s human,” Gabriel pointed out.

“I  _know_ , but I can still dream.” Sam put his empty coffee mug down with a loud thunk. “So that’s why you’re here? To pull us into it again?”

“Not angel business,” Gabriel said, and Castiel relaxed minutely. “I figured you three could do with a change of pace.”

“But if it’s family business…” Dean trailed off, a look of horror crossing his face. “You have  _got_  to be kidding me. The  _pagans_?”

Castiel’s face scrunched into a puzzled expression. “How would that have gone?”

“We kind of ended on bad terms—”

“If you can call your ex-girlfriend trying to kill you ‘bad terms,’” Dean muttered.

“—but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have good times while it lasted.” Gabriel spread his hands. “And, well…I  _was_  Loki.”

“Oh, shit,” Sam said. “That stuff about Loki’s kids was true?”

“You did it with a horse?” Dean asked, eyebrows flying up.

“Three seconds.” Gabriel threw his hands up, slumping down in the chair. “ _Three_ seconds without someone bringing that story up is literally all I ask.”

“Was there a horse involved?” Castiel glanced between Dean and Sam, confused. “How did you have children in the first place?”

Sam’s lips twitched. “One of the stories has Loki giving birth to an eight-legged horse named Sleipnir.”

“Yes to the horse named Sleipnir, but no to the whole ‘having sex with a horse,’ so don’t mention that again or I will do something you’ll regret.” Gabriel rubbed a hand over his face. “And I didn’t actually  _have_ any kids. They’re adopted – all of them.”

“I see,” Castiel said. Gabriel could guess that nephilim had been the first thought in his head. “And – has something come up with them?”

When Gabriel didn’t instantly answer, Sam did. “I think Sleipnir ended up as Odin’s steed, but the others… Hel’s supposedly the ruler of the Underworld, and Fenris and Jormungandr were supposed to have a hand in starting Ragnarok. I’m not too sure about Fenris, but Jormungandr is under the earth’s crust or something.”

“Just in the ocean, actually,” Gabriel said lightly. “Underground would have been a bit inconvenient when they were trying to get him down there in the first place. As for Ragnarok, that mainly hinges on me escaping something I’m not currently trapped in, so no worries.”

“So you want to bust them out?” Dean didn’t look like he was at all surprised by this.

“What he  _wants_  is to have a big old family reunion,” Rhodey said before Gabriel could speak, “but you’ll never hear that from him.”

Castiel considered this for a few seconds, then offered, “At least they aren’t angels?”

“That doesn’t make it easier,” Gabriel said. “You might not have noticed, but angels and pagans don’t get along, and I was outed. I can’t just waltz in and get them out, not with the spells they’re under.” Otherwise he would’ve done so before.

“Spells?” Sam echoed, looking surprised. “Why – are they trapped there, or something?”

“As far as he’s told us,” Natasha said.

“It’s not like they’d stay put otherwise.” He was unable to keep the bitter anger out of his tone. Crossing his arms, Gabriel sighed and managed to muster a sharp grin. “They are  _my_  kids.”

“Did you want our help for this?” Castiel asked.

“It’s not something that requires a lot of people,” Gabriel said, “though the bunker would be a convenient place to stay—”

“Would they fit?” Dean asked skeptically.

“Hey, I’m not the only shapeshifter in the family.”

“What happens when someone notices what we’re doing?” Sam asked.

“If it gets out that it’s happening – and it will considering how frightened they were when they found out what my kids were  _prophesied_  to do – then we’ll probably have a little skirmish on our hands. It’s nothing that can’t be handled, but I don’t want the kids in the middle of it.”

“So,” Castiel began, “your plan is to find them, dismantle these spells, and then avoid the all too likely wrath of an entire pantheon and bring them back here.”

“Pretty much,” Gabriel agreed. “If they’ll come.”

“Back up,” Dean said. “ _If_?”

Gabriel shrugged. “They’d be entitled to be just as angry at me for lying as anyone else.”

“I’m gonna stop you there,” Rhodey said. “I’m also declaring that you’re not allowed to get all mopey about this.”

“I am not—”

“Tony, I’ve seen you mope. Forbidden.”

Dean’s cough sounded too much like laughter that trailed off into “choking” when Gabriel shot a glare at him.

Sam ignored his brother. “Look, I get that you want to get your kids out. I’m just a little hesitant in putting them here and putting  _us_  at ground zero for a showdown between an angry archangel and an entire pantheon of cannibalistic gods that hate our guts.”

“Please don’t get technical as to what being a cannibal entails,” Rhodey said.

“If there is a showdown, it’s not going to happen here,” Gabriel reassured Sam. “And I doubt it will involve everybody. If you recall, Lucifer killed Odin. Asgard’s not exactly going to be at its peak.”

Dean raised his eyebrows. “Doesn’t that just mean Asgard’s going to be even more pissed at seeing an angel?”

Gabriel put a finger to his lips. “Not if they don’t know that it is one. I’ve got a few more tricks up my sleeve.”

“That you haven’t clarified,” Rhodey said, unimpressed. “Which basically means you’re winging it.”

Gabriel shot him an affronted look. “What do you think I’ve been doing all these years?”

“Give yourself some credit, Gabriel.” Castiel tilted his head. “In any case, I don’t think you will be wanting my help for this. I’m too well-known.” He grimaced slightly, shoulders lifting at the same time his wings fluttered. “But if you want protection, I can manage that.”

“I’m surprised you even bothered to stop by,” Sam said. “I would’ve thought you’d just drop one of them off with a note and then leave us to it.”

“That does sound like you,” Rhodey agreed, neatly twisting away from the elbow Gabriel tried to jab in his side.

“I’m trying out responsibility,” Gabriel said waspishly.

“Try it out somewhere else?” Dean turned the TV off. “It’s creeping me out.”

“Dean.” Sam gave him a disapproving look.

“Sam.” Dean glowered at Sam for a minute before turning back to Gabriel. “Look, we owe you for what you did, so I can promise that your kids will be as safe as we can make it here.”

“I appreciate that.” Gabriel meant it. “This would be the part where I tell you that step one is tracking them all down.”

Dean folded his arms across his chest, lips twisting. “You mean the gods didn’t tell you where they locked up your kids?”

If Gabriel had even  _tried_  asking…well…things wouldn’t have been very pleasant for the other gods. And his cover would have been blown.

Taking Gabriel’s non-answer for the answer it was, Sam’s eyes lit up. “I’ll go see what the Men of Letters have on the Norse pantheon.”

“I’ll hit the Internet,” Dean said, looking down at his bag. He actually looked pleased. “There’s my excuse for not rubbing elbows with the bigwigs.”

“Dealing with politicians is hardly fun,” Natasha said. “Mind if I tag along? It would be interesting to see what kind of stuff exists here.”

“Don’t go looking up eighty articles on Baba Yaga,” Gabriel teased.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Natasha said. “Everyone knows Russian politicians are scarier, and I know how to deal with them.”

Sam looked amused. “C’mon, I’ll show you where the archives are.”

“Any chance of seeing the dungeon?” James asked.

“Not unless you’re a demon.”

“What, no tours?”

“I can lock you in there if you want,” Dean offered sarcastically, and Gabriel heard James laugh.

“Maybe next time.”

* * *

The research Sam and Dean pulled up on the Norse pantheon was eerily accurate. The Men of Letters, it turned out, had really known their stuff. It was a shame that the brothers were all that remained of the organization.

Or maybe not, considering everything the organization had gotten up to.

“These gods are  _brutal_ ,” Rhodey said, looking rather ill as he browsed through an old text on Norse punishments.

“We all are,” Gabriel said, glancing over at the pages Rhodey was reading. “Not just the gods.”

“They sacrificed their slaves,” James said casually. “I thought that was only the Egyptians.”

“A lot of old civilizations did,” Castiel said, taking the book from Rhodey. “It wasn’t unusual.”

“That got a little annoying after a while,” Gabriel mused. “One god does it, and suddenly they assume you’re all into that.” It had been almost surreal the first time he’d had a  _person_ sacrificed to him - he’d gotten almost drunk on the resulting power high. Gabriel had never thought power was worth  _that_ kind of sacrifice.

“But they still did it,” Natasha said, fingers tracing down the edges of the book she was reading.

“If I’d gone and _disapproved_ , then they would’ve come up with something else. Or the other gods would’ve had a go at me.” Gabriel lifted a shoulder in a lopsided shrug. “We might’ve been a pantheon, but that didn’t mean we got along.” That may have been because of all the times he’d tricked people into ridiculous and occasionally near-fatal situations, but some of those gods could have used a lesson on how to take a joke.

“That seems to be your thing,” James said. “Making enemies out of gods. Is there anyone who  _does_  like you?”

“After my untimely exit from secrecy?” Gabriel grinned ruefully. “I doubt it.”

“You do have your points,” Castiel reassured him. “I’m sure you still have friends.”

Gabriel resisted the urge to thank his brother for being so sweet. Gods weren’t exactly forgiving, and the hatred for angels ran deep. Any friends he had made had very likely written him off and cursed his name the moment they’d found out what he was.

He wished he could talk to Hermes. There was no guarantee the Greek god would have understood, or taken it any better than any of his other friends might have. But he was still one of Gabriel’s oldest friends – and it hadn’t even been him when Gabriel had last seen him, just Mercury out to cover his own ass.

“Hey.” Rhodey flicked his arm. “Don’t get lost in your thoughts over there. You don’t get a free pass from sifting through this pile of books.”

Putting on a sigh, Gabriel went to reach for one of the books, idly flipping it open and beginning to read. He stopped two pages in upon seeing that it was about nothing but what plants the gods preferred.

At the other end of the table, Castiel was flipping through the book he’d taken from Rhodey. Gabriel glanced up when Castiel froze in the middle of turning a page. “Gabriel…” His brother’s voice was too calm for the tension curling through his frame. “Could I speak with you outside?”

Dean looked up from his laptop, eyebrows raised. “Did you find something?”

“Outside, please. It…would be best.”

In Gabriel’s experience as a human, nothing good ever came from those words and that tone. But he followed Castiel outside, silent until the door closed behind them. “There was something in that book.”

Rather than answer, Castiel gave it to him.

It might have been better if he hadn’t.

Gabriel had known that the punishments the other gods came up with weren’t kind. He’d had a hand in some of them himself. But he’d never gone over the top, always making sure that the punishment fit the crime.

Tyr hadn’t been able to look him in the eye after Fenris disappeared, and as much as he had tried, Gabriel had never been able to get an answer out of him. He’d suspected that Fenris had ripped off Tyr’s hand, but that it had happened like  _this_.

Chained up and unable to move with a sword that pried his mouth apart, dripping out a new river that they’d had the  _audacity_  to call  _Hope_.

Gabriel didn’t realize that he’d incinerated the book he was holding until Castiel gripped hold of his wrists, jerking him back to awareness.

“Calm yourself.” Castiel’s fingers were tight around his wrists.

 _Calm_  himself? After what he had just found out?

Castiel didn’t flinch as Gabriel’s skin warmed dangerously. “I know, brother. But this is why you’re here. You can fix this.”

It was difficult to breathe through the rage filling him and the heat of his Grace broiling under his skin. Castiel’s fingers tightened further, reminding Gabriel who was standing  _far too close_.

He tried to pull away, but Castiel held fast.

“You won’t harm me.” Castiel’s voice was implacable.

Castiel didn’t  _know_  that. In this state…

Gabriel inhaled very, very slowly, and made a conscious effort to try and calm down. It didn’t work, and he tugged again, wrenching his wrists out of Castiel’s grip. “I need to find him.  _First._ ”

“Of course.”

If Odin had still been alive, Gabriel might have left then and there to go tell him exactly what he thought of his son’s punishment.

But Odin wasn’t, and Lucifer had done a very thorough job of eviscerating him.

“Your friends are here.” Castiel’s voice pierced through the red haze. “Would you harm them?”

“ _No_.” The word was too loud, shaking the air around them. Turning away, Gabriel pinched his nose, breathing in slowly.

Then he did it again and again, packing away his rage and grief until it was a dense ball in his core.

The air smelled like melted slag and paint, the pavement around his feet warped unnaturally.

When Gabriel didn’t speak, not quite trusting his voice yet, Castiel stepped closer, one hand brushing his shoulder.

“We can do this,” Castiel promised him quietly.

Pulling in one last breath, Gabriel forcefully relaxed his shoulders, looking back at Castiel. Nodding once, he pulled away, heading back to the bunker.

He had to find out where Fenris was.

…And maybe fix what he’d half-melted so no one freaked out.

* * *

“Anyone else a little worried about what was in that book?” Sam asked after the two angels disappeared.

“Not just a little.” Dean was frowning at where Castiel had been. “What could have been that bad?”

“Going by the rest of this?” Barnes gave the book he was in the middle of a mildly disgusted look. “Nothing good.”

There was a faint groan reminiscent of a building shifting on its foundations. A few of the books slid a few inches across the table. Everyone in the room froze, looking at each other warily.

“Definitely nothing good,” Rhodey said.

“If he destroys that book…” Sam frowned.

“You’re more concerned about a book than what might be happening?” Barnes sounded disbelieving.

Sam shrugged. “It’s a  _book_. Gabriel’s pulled himself together before.”

There was another faint rattle. The lights flickered briefly.

Rhodey’s lips thinned. “ _You_  might not care, but I do.” These guys had absolutely no idea what Tony had gone through. Books could be replaced; people – especially angels – couldn’t.

It was about ten minutes before Castiel came back, his posture tense.

“Where’s Tony?” Rhodey asked before anyone else could.

“He’s coming,” Castiel said, glancing down at his hands. The skin looked slightly red, but he flexed them and the color disappeared.

“What was in the book?” Sam asked.

Castiel didn’t respond immediately, his brow furrowing. “The information we needed,” he answered eventually, the words ominous.

“And…the book?”

“Here.” The book thumped on the table, bouncing slightly with the impact. Tony came to a stop, arms crossed over his face and face stony. “We’re finding Fenris first.”

Opening the book, Sam raised his eyebrows. “This seems a lot…newer.”

“It’s the same book,” Tony said curtly, “and it has the same information. I just need to find Fenris.”

“Okay,” Rhodey said. “Where do we start?”

“I’ll take a look around Europe,” Tony said. “Incognito. If I find anything, I’ll be back.” He was gone practically before he’d finished speaking.

“He’s upset,” Natasha observed. “What does that book say about Fenris?”

“Nothing  _that_ —” Sam stopped midsentence, evidently discovering what Castiel had shown Gabriel. “Oh. Uh. Actually, that’s pretty bad.”

“ _What_?” Rhodey pressed.

“They, uh, apparently chained Fenris up so that he couldn’t move and…put a sword in his mouth so he can’t bite anything…which led to a river they call ‘Hope’ being created from his drool.” Sam closed the book, looking disturbed.

Rhodey felt vaguely sick, and judging by the faces Natasha and Barnes were sporting, they didn’t feel any better. Tony’s reaction made a little more sense now, and Rhodey hoped that he was actually calm enough to keep a level head if he  _did_  find Fenris.

“Are you going with him?” Dean asked Castiel.

Castiel tilted his head to the side. “He…wishes to be alone.”

“Of course he does,” Rhodey muttered, rubbing his face. “That’s not necessarily good.”

“He is calm enough,” Castiel reassured him.

“‘Calm enough’ meaning that he’s simmering but not likely to explode anytime soon?”

Castiel considered this. “Yes,” he eventually admitted. “If he does happen to…explode, I’ll be there.”

And that was about as good as it would get, Rhodey figured.

Sam left a few hours later to run into town and grab groceries, leaving the others to continue looking through the books for anything else on the Norse pantheon. Before he left he pulled on a hat and a shapeless jacket, clothes that Rhodey recognized as the classic “incognito” look for anyone who desperately didn’t want to be noticed but failed simply because it was too stereotypical.

“That is the worst disguise I’ve ever seen,” Barnes said after Sam left.

“They’ll leave him alone if he wears that,” Dean said, eyes on the computer screen. “Hollywood is good for something.”

“No one’s gotten used to seeing the weirdly tall guy in a hoodie in town?” Natasha asked, eyebrows raised. “I thought you’d been here for a while.”

Dean just shrugged. “We’re not in town all the time, and when we are we don’t do anything that would draw a lot of attention. The problem’s that people  _recognize_  us now, but they’ve gotten the message that sometimes it’s not the right time.”

“I guess all the attention would be a downside,” Rhodey mused, “since hunting’s such a down-low job. What happens now if someone catches you in the middle of one?”

“They generally try to stay and help,” Castiel said, frowning as he turned a book sideways to squint at it. “Often with salt and…water pistols?” He glanced at Dean.

“And hula hoops,” Dean said, “filled with salt. Then there are all the priests. I was blessed ten times in  _two days_.”

“I guess normally it’s more ‘what are you doing in this church,’ huh?” Barnes looked amused. “What’s the point of water pistols?”

“They’re intended to be filled with holy water,” Castiel said. “I believe so, at least. The last few people who attempted to come to our aid were…not entirely successful in consecrating it.”

“It  _was_  kinda funny,” Dean said. “Once you got past the whole ‘a demon’s trying to kill them’ thing. We haven’t had to buy any salt in ages at least.”

“Anyone out there who still refuses to believe in all this supernatural stuff?” Natasha asked, leaning back in her chair. “I imagine it’s a lot to take in, even if plenty of people already believe in angels.”

“Fucking  _skeptics_ ,” Dean groaned. “They’re the  _worst_ , insisting that there’s a”—he changed his tone to a higher pitch—“‘perfectly rational explanation for all this that doesn’t involve the supernatural.’” His voice changed back to normal. “And because of that, they’re easy marks for anything that wants to use them to get to hunters.”

“There will always be dissenters,” Castiel said in a calmer tone. “Not everyone believes in angels, but the revelation of our existence has also permitted other beings to come forth.”

“Pagans,” Dean said before Castiel could. “And ghosts.  _Lots_  of ghosts, especially in the Eastern countries like China.”

“Their ancestors,” Natasha noted, nodding once. “Makes sense. Anything you can think of that’s  _not_ real?”

“Unicorns,” Dean said immediately. “Except for that one time, but that was just some idiot witch.”

“It’s kind of weird that even for things that don’t exist, you can think of an exception where they did,” Rhodey said. “What about dragons?”

“Not anymore,” Dean answered.

“You’ve gotta be kidding,” Barnes said disbelievingly.

“There are some still in China,” Castiel said absentmindedly, picking up another book. “They’re revered, although modern populations are a bit low.”

Dean looked contemplative for several seconds before shaking his head and turning to Barnes. “ _Anyway_ , you don’t have any room to talk. Your world is just damn  _weird_.”

“How would you know?” Barnes scoffed.

In lieu of an answer, Dean turned the laptop around to a colorful image that read IRON MAN and had a red-and-gold weird looking Iron Man suit bursting out of something. “You guys are comic book heroes. In terms of weirdness, you don’t have any room to talk.”

“We’re  _what_?” Rhodey pulled the laptop from Dean before he could react. Upon looking more closely, that Iron Man suit seemed to leave absolutely nothing to the imagination when it came to muscles. Metal didn’t hug the body  _that_  closely.

“When we had Tony here, he admitted that he’s Iron Man,” Dean said. “And Gabriel pulled a trick some years back when he used the Hulk.”

Natasha’s only reaction was raised eyebrows. “All of us?”

“You’re the Black Widow,” Dean said. “And judging from your buddy’s arm, he’s the Winter Soldier. There’s only one Rhodey I know, and he’s War Machine.”

“I’m what?” Rhodey looked up from the screen with the horribly retro Iron Man suit.

“War Machine. You’ve got your own suit. One of the Iron Man ones, I mean.”

“I think I’d’ve noticed if I did,” Rhodey said.

“Gabriel being involved in this universe would undoubtedly change some things,” Castiel commented. “From what I remember from my time there, his identity as Iron Man wasn’t known.”

“Yeah, he had this whole secret identity thing going on in the comics,” Dean said. “But not anymore. It was kind of funny while it lasted.”

“Funny, like…?” Natasha looked both curious and like she was totally going to tease Tony relentlessly about this later.

Dean smirked like he knew what Natasha was thinking. “He was wearing a red thong when his identity got blown to the Avengers. And he built a few suits that were actually intelligent enough to get jealous and want Tony Stark to themselves.”

Barnes had zero qualms about busting out laughing. “Are you serious?”

“Deadly, dude; everyone knows about those issues.”

“I thought you told Sam you didn’t read them that often.” Castiel looked puzzled.

“I—” Dean’s expression was enough to make Rhodey start laughing, too. “Oh, shut up! I don’t! That often.”

“Sure,” Natasha said, clearly not meaning it. “There can’t be that few ridiculous incidents in these comics, though. What else?”

When Sam got back, he found the four of them laughing raucously and Castiel making an effort to understand the hilarity of whatever incident they’d stumbled upon.

“Nice to see you’re all bonding,” he said, dropping the grocery bags onto what Rhodey had dubbed “the map table” simply due to all the maps lying on it. “Dean, take a break from that and look at this.”

Dean caught the newspaper he tossed easily. “Wow, a newspaper. I’m amazed, Sam.”

“Shut up and look.”

“Okay, fine. What am I looking for?” Dean scanned the front page. “Blah, blah, mayor, whatever. Some dude in an accident, security leak, politics, etcetera. What?”

“It’s been a pretty busy week, apparently,” Sam said. “Especially for a town this size.”

“I’m still missing your point.”

“None of this is  _natural_.” Sam took the newspaper from Dean to flip to the main story. “We’ve been here years, and I’ve never seen anything like this happen in half a year - let alone inside a  _week_.”

“You’re not seriously suggesting that some monster decided to make this place its hunting ground?”

“Some probably still don’t know what’s been going on,” Sam said. “But, yeah, this is a hunt.”

“A hunt?” Natasha leaned forward, eyebrows raised. “The same kind of hunt you took Steve on?”

“No, that was a salt-and-burn. Simple enough until Loki messed it up.” Dean made a face. “ _Ugh_.” Then, looking back at the newspaper again, Dean flipped through several pages. “My guess is this is some kind of trickster. It fits the bill from the last one we had.”

“Who was Gabriel,” Sam pointed out. “And these incidents aren’t the same. No one’s really died. It’s just been a lot of—”

“Chaotic stuff. And from what I can tell, all tied up with people that had it coming.” Dean looked up at Castiel. “Cas?”

“I haven’t been paying attention,” Castiel admitted. “There’s been too much else going on, and I haven’t been here often enough. But now that I know, I can keep an eye out.”

“So what’s the plan?” Barnes looked at each of them in turn, eyebrows scrunched together.

“More information for now,” Dean said, flicking the newspaper. “If it is a trickster, we’ll handle it. But going around and asking questions will tip our hand. It’s how Gabriel found us out.”

“And because he wasn’t really a trickster,” Sam said. “But our faces are too well known for anyone not to recognize us.”

“I’ll take a look around,” Castiel offered. “I’ll be back once I know more.” Just like Tony, he disappeared in a rustle of insubstantial wings.

“I doubt it’s going to be that easy to find a trickster,” Barnes said. Rhodey had the feeling they were all remembering the incident where they’d faced Gabriel’s trickster self.

“Gadreel said it was easy enough to track them,” Natasha reminded them.

“Whoa, wait,” Dean said. “Since when have any of you faced a trickster?”

“That’s a  _really_ long story,” Rhodey told him, glancing at the others.

Dean shot a pointed look at where Castiel had last been. “We’ve got time. Besides,” he added, “we can always use some dirty info on Gabriel.”

“You think it has to do with Gabriel?” Natasha’s tone was unreadable.

“When doesn’t it?”

“You have a point there,” Barnes admitted.

“It’s not really info you can use for blackmail,” Rhodey said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “It was just…really weird and really stressful.”

“Mostly weird,” Barnes said, Natasha nodding in agreement. “And it was more Doom’s fault than Gabriel’s, really.”

“Viktor von Doom?” Dean’s eyes brightened, a grin curling at his mouth. “I thought he was Reed Richards’s thing?”

“He  _was_ ,” Natasha said. “But we checked out Latveria. There was a machine there, and we had four of Tony.”

“One was a trickster,” Barnes said. “Then there was Loki, Gabriel, and Tony.”

“That  _Trickster_.” Natasha looked a bit like she was sucking on a lemon. Whatever else she said was in Russian but sounded like swearing.

Sam nodded sympathetically. “That sounds about right. He looks all right, though.”

“ _Now_  he is.” Rhodey shrugged once. “But that’s why we know what’s up with a trickster.”

“If this even is a trickster,” Sam said slowly, shooting a glance at the newspaper.

“No, it is,” Castiel announced, appearing suddenly behind Sam, who flinched only minutely at the surprise. “Tricksters have a unique style of magic, and it’s all over town.”

Nodding, Dean closed the laptop. “Have you got blood from one of its victims?”

Rhodey’s eyebrows shot up.  _Blood_?

Sam noticed. “It’s not - you need it to kill a trickster,” he explained.

“And a stake,” Dean said. “Which we’ve got lying around somewhere. We just need the blood.”

“Not yet, no,” Castiel answered. “If you want, I can deal with it myself.”

“And like I said last time, we can do things by ourselves,” Dean told him, standing to reach over and pat him on the shoulder. “Tricksters we can handle. Since we’re missing the blood, that means we’ll need to go into town and get some.”

“We don’t even need to sneak around,” Sam marveled. “We can just  _ask_.”

“You know…” Dean made a face. “I completely forgot about that. There’s half the fun of taking blood.”

Looking at Natasha’s and Barnes’s perturbed faces, Rhodey was thankful to see that he wasn’t the only one finding this completely weird.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, please! We love reading what you guys have to say about what's going on here. :D


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HaHA! Bet you weren't expecting an update today!
> 
> Me and inukagome talked for a little bit and settled on an every-three-days update schedule, which means it will change days but be a lot faster in general! So the next chapter will be up on Wednesday, not Thursday :)
> 
> Also...introducing a less familiar Trickster than you might know, but I think you'll like him.
> 
> EDIT: I /cannot/ believe I forgot to mention this the first time around, but I have a song! Not for this chapter, but for Coyote. It's [Stadium Pow Wow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAEmjW9J3_o) by A Tribe Called Red, which is a Native American group that mixes genres in a pretty interesting way.
> 
> _This is **largely** because of something ELSE I'm super excited to post in the very near future. :D But also because we're both kind of eager to share what we have for this story. Either way, it's win/win!_

There weren’t many spells that actually hid things from an archangel’s senses, but Gabriel had to admit that whatever Odin had done…

Well, he’d been all over Norway and every other place in Europe that the Norse had ever held sacred, and there had been  _absolutely nothing_.

If Odin was still alive – Gabriel cut short that line of thinking. He’d settle for knowing that Odin was probably  _really_  glad that he was dead right now.

Coming to a stop in the middle of an ancient höll that had broken down and was nothing but craggy stones, Gabriel scowled at the energy saturating the ground. He could feel it moving, but there was no connection like there had been when he’d been at his height as Loki, fully tuned in to that kind of power. This had been a place Odin occasionally liked to come to, and Gabriel felt no qualms in further destroying its remnants.

By the time he was done, there was no sign that there had been anything dedicated to the Norse gods on that spot, and the only energy in the ground was that of Gabriel’s Grace.

It wasn’t really keeping a low profile, but there was enough hatred between angels and pagans that someone could come up with the excuse that a volatile angel had had a temper tantrum here. An angel that hadn’t been called Loki for ages.

Taking one last look at the area, Gabriel took off, meaning to do another sweep of everything he’d already gone through. It was possible that Fenris was in one of the other realms, but Jormungandr was down here; it was likely that the Æsir had put more than one of his kids on Earth.

 _Gabriel._  Rhodey’s prayer caught Gabriel’s attention immediately, but there was no hint of danger associated with it. _Sam and Dean are going on a hunt here, and we’re going with them. They say it’s a trickster and that it should be an easy hunt. I don’t really think so, but it’s not like they care. Natasha and Barnes finagled their way onto it, and I’m going so that they don’t get themselves into trouble._

There weren’t any further details - probably because Rhodey didn’t know anymore - but Gabriel didn’t think Castiel would be so ignorant.

Finding Castiel via the Host was simple, and it was even simpler to send him a private message.  _Yo, Castiel. They’re hunting a trickster?_

 _Gabriel._  Castiel didn’t sound surprised to hear from him.  _From what I’ve found, it is a trickster. It hasn’t killed anyone yet, but there have been quite a few incidents that caught Sam’s attention._

 _It hasn’t killed anybody at **all**?_  That was...really weird.

_No._

It wasn’t like  _all_  tricksters ended up killing the people they played tricks on, but deaths were usually par for the course. That a trickster had managed to avoid killing at all was absolutely bizarre, and it didn’t sit right with him.

_Are you with them?_

_Dean insisted on handling this by themselves. I was called elsewhere._

Gabriel received the vague sense of Castiel sitting in a meeting and wished him luck.  _I’ll check on them._

Castiel sent him back an affirmative before withdrawing to pay attention to an undoubtedly boring meeting.

It took barely a second before Gabriel was back in Kansas and where he sensed his friends. He didn’t immediately reduce himself back into a more human form, instead investigating what Castiel had already done.

There was definitely trickster magic in the area - any angel familiar with it could recognize it – but it was also…

 _Damn it_.

It wasn’t something Gabriel had anticipated this early on, but he’d also expected this particular trickster to be smarter than attracting the attention of the  _Winchester brothers_.

So it might be completely coincidental, but Gabriel wasn’t willing to bet a penny on that.

None of them were in the bunker, which meant that the group was already on their way into town. When Gabriel found them on one of the major roads; they’d clearly had some sort of heated discussion, since Dean was scowling blackly and James and Natasha seemed a bit too pleased with themselves. Rhodey had a resigned “why me?” expression that Gabriel was intimately familiar with, although he could tell that his friend was a bit excited.

He managed to land in between Rhodey and James, who both jumped in their seats; Rhodey even made a noise akin to a squeak. “I heard you have a trickster on your hands.”

It was a testament to how many times Castiel must have done the same that Dean barely flinched. The Impala swerved slightly, but he immediately righted the car. “Do all of you take some perverse pleasure in doing this?” he demanded.

“I do,” Gabriel said, not even bothering to pretend not to grin. “Can’t say anything about what goes on in my sibs’ heads, but probably not.”

“Tony, you  _ass_.” Rhodey punched Gabriel in the shoulder, which was difficult in the limited space. “A little warning next time?”

“Don’t do it at  _all_  next time,” James insisted, wiggled uncomfortably in the now very cramped confines of the backseat.

“The trickster?” Dean prompted, eyes meeting Gabriel’s in the rearview mirror.

“Yeah, uh, about that,” Gabriel began. “This may be more than just the average hunt.”

“Cas said it was a trickster.”

“Castiel just looked at the magic. It’s a trickster, but it’s more like  _who_  you’re hunting that matters.” Gabriel shifted forward, knees bumping against the front seats. “For one, he’s being  _really_ obvious, which means he’s looking to lure someone in.”

“What, like you?”

“Yeah, probably.”

Natasha, seated in between the two Winchesters, twisted to look at him. “Did you know him?”

“Yes,” Gabriel admitted. “I have no idea how he knew I was here, though.”

“Fantastic,” Dean grumbled. “We’re dealing with one of your old friends, who probably has a grudge.”

“Who is it?” Sam asked, glancing over his shoulder.

“Coyote,” Gabriel said. “No idea why he’d be in Kansas of all places.”

“What’s wrong with Kansas?” Dean demanded.

“Nothing, except for how it’s literally in the middle of bumfuck, nowhere, and has none of the things he might find interesting. Even  _I_  got bored in places like here.”

“Maybe he’s just here for you,” Natasha suggested.

“Maybe, but like I said, I don’t know how he would have known I was here, considering I only got here like a day ago.”

“So you’re here to warn us off your old buddy?” Dean sounded vaguely disbelieving.

Gabriel inclined his head. “I _would_ appreciate it if you didn’t kill him, but I still want to know what he’s doing here.”

“The last time we tried approaching a trickster by  _not_  killing him, he stuck us in an idiot box and turned Sam into a car.” Dean glared pointedly at Gabriel.

Gabriel just shrugged, not even remotely apologetic for what had been one of the best tricks of his career. “You got me in the end.”

“You let us get to you,” Sam said.

At first, but not at the end. Gabriel hadn’t anticipated the brothers finding out that he wasn’t really a trickster. “If Coyote’s here because of me, he’s not going to do anything to you. Not in the least because you boys have cultivated something of a reputation.”

“There was that vampire that ran away before we could get to him,” Sam said thoughtfully. “I thought I heard him apologizing and swearing he’d convert to veganism.”

“Coyote isn’t stupid.” Gabriel sat back. “Or some lame vampire. If he’s being that obvious around  _you_  two, then he’s either been under a rock for the last several years or he’s got something to say.”

“I vote for the rock,” Rhodey said.

Given what had happened at the Elysian, it wasn’t  _entirely_ unlikely, except for the fact that Coyote had more pride than he did sense. “If he’s got something to say, then we can ask. Just…be obvious.”

“Even more obvious than we usually are?” Sam craned his neck to look at Gabriel, but Gabriel was already gone.

Flitting out of the car, he flew ahead into the town, cloaking himself. The brothers had a big enough group already with his friends, and he could catch Coyote off guard this way.

When the Impala rolled into town thirty minutes later, Gabriel was rather impressed at how obvious the brothers were being.

The Winchesters had faked him out the first time they’d met. He was curious to see if they could do it to Coyote, too.

The answer was probably yes, given their skills, but he was still interested in seeing how.

“So, first step?” Rhodey looked around, bouncing slightly on his feet.

“Ask questions,” Sam said when Dean didn’t answer.

Gabriel had never actually bothered to listen in whenever hunters did their snooping around, and he was regretting his choice to do so now. Just about the only interesting thing about the various interrogations was how awkward Dean and Sam were in response to the people recognizing their faces and falling over themselves in their eagerness to help.

Of course, the police were ultimately useless, since they already knew who they were up against – but if they pretended like they didn’t, Coyote would assume they didn’t.

Gabriel was watching, but he hadn’t seen so much as a glimpse of Coyote - yet. He obviously found the police station just as boring. A small town like this didn’t even have much of a crime rate (or much of anything at all, really).

Gabriel considered doing a sweep over the town to see if he could find Coyote. The other god’s habits couldn’t have changed much – then again, he’d throw a wrench in whatever plan the Winchesters had if he did, and he did want to see how that would play out.

“Nothing,” Sam said, pulling at his jacket. He pulled a face. “How is it that they now know everything but absolutely nothing?”

“It’s not demons,” Dean grumbled. “Demons aren’t so ridiculously  _obvious_.”

“And everyone’s got anti-possession charms now,” Sam pointed out. “The newest fad.” He gestured vaguely in the direction of a storefront window that was advertising said charms along with promising holy water and garlic to ward off vampires.

“Didn’t you say garlic doesn’t work on vampires?” Natasha side-eyed the storefront.

“Like I said,” Sam huffed.

“Hollywood.” Dean said the word like it was a curse. “We should go somewhere more private. I hate being stared at all the time.”

Since everyone on the street was trying (and failing) to stare discreetly at the brothers, they quickly headed to an area where they could hide among the shrubbery and pretend they were doing business.

Not that there was anything discreet about two virtual giants and three people that screamed military trying to hide in the middle of a park.

Gabriel didn’t make an attempt to overhear their conversation – it was probably more  
“frustratingly” wondering what was causing all the trouble in Lebanon, anyway. He was more interested in paying attention to the trickster magic in the area and where it was leading.

Coyote was good at hiding – had always been. It was that in addition to his status as a fellow trickster that had drawn Gabriel to him.

Still, there was something to be said for being intimately familiar with another god’s tricks to the point that they couldn’t hide anymore.

Anyone else wouldn’t have thought twice about the man of indeterminate age casually sauntering towards the small group, but it was all too obvious to Gabriel what he really was.

Natasha had already glanced at him, but Gabriel could tell she’d dismissed his presence. Another thing tricksters were good at – appearing harmless.

It was a good thing he was there, or else he could think of a lot of things Coyote might have done.

“Let’s be honest,” Gabriel said, putting himself in between Coyote and the others when his old friend was only a few feet away. “You’re never this clumsy unless it’s on purpose.”

Despite his different vessel, Coyote had no issues recognizing Gabriel. “Hello, Loki.” The name sounded more like an insult than a greeting.

“Coyote.” Gabriel folded his arms across his chest. “It’s been a while.”

Coyote mimicked Gabriel’s stance. “One death and a resurrection later. What are you  _doing_ here?”

“What am  _I_ doing here? Since when are you into tiny country towns?” Gabriel shot back. “You into druggies now? Speeding tickets?”

“It got your attention, didn’t it?” Coyote scoffed.

“How did you even  _know_ I was here?”

“What happened to not telling about our methods?”

“Like we didn’t already know how we did it,” Gabriel retorted. That had been a running joke more than anything else.

Coyote didn’t answer, but his attention wavered slightly, turning  _elsewhere_ …and that elsewhere was above their heads.

Despite himself, Gabriel looked up at the moon that was just out of human sight, narrowing in on a certain pagan that lived there. “Oh, come  _on_.” Rabbit, you pushover.

“What?” Dean demanded.

“As if you were ever going to tell me anything,” Coyote said, ignoring Dean. “How else was I supposed to find out?”

“It’s not like I was particularly eager to get you on my case,” Gabriel huffed, eyes dropping back to Coyote. “And in case you didn’t notice, I didn’t tell  _anyone._ It wasn’t personal—”

“Oh, I’m taking this personally!” Coyote interrupted.

“So, what?" Gabriel asked. "I was supposed to tell you and trust that you’d leave it at that? You don’t  _like_  angels.”

“ _Three hundred years_ we’ve known each other”—Rhodey made a choked noise but had the sense not to interrupt—“and you  _don’t tell me_?”

That…was not what he had expected. Gabriel paused, giving Coyote a confused look. “Wait…are you upset about the angel thing or the fact that I didn’t tell you?”

“Mostly the second part!” Coyote shouted, gesturing widely for emphasis. “Come  _on,_ Loki! I even told you about that time in 1618—”

“Everything you’ve done is embarrassing, that doesn’t count,” Gabriel said, half on automatic, because  _what the hell?_ He had definitely not expected Coyote to completely discard the angel issue.

“I thought we trusted each other.” Coyote looked injured.

“I did –  _do_.” Gabriel dropped his arms to his sides. “But I was trying to keep it a  _secret_.  _No one_  knew, Coyote.”

“I can keep a secret!”

Gabriel just  _looked_ at him. “I have  _seen_ you try to keep a secret. You lasted for a  _week_ before you told someone.”

“Fine,” Coyote conceded grudgingly. “But you still owe me a damn explanation.”

“That, I can do,” Gabriel said. “It also didn’t really require terrorizing a small town.”

“I’m allowed to have fun,” Coyote said, making 'fun' sound like a whine.

“No, this place isn’t  _fun_ ,” Gabriel said. “It’s  _boring_. How did you not fall asleep?”

“If I fell asleep, I would’ve missed your arrival.”

“Are we not stabbing anyone?” Sam asked from behind Gabriel.

“We didn’t get the blood,” Dean hissed.

“You’re not stabbing anyone,” Gabriel said, not bothering to turn around. “No blood necessary.”

“On that note,” Coyote said, “the  _Winchesters_? Seriously?”

“They’re not that bad when they’re not trying to kill you,” Gabriel told him. Coyote looked skeptical. “Really. Also, glad to hear that you didn’t completely lose your mind and try to bait the Winchesters.”

“Do I look like a moron to you?” Coyote rolled his eyes.

“That is entirely debatable.”

“ _You_ can shut up.”

“I thought you wanted me to explain.” Gabriel couldn’t help but grin.

Coyote scowled, though there was a slight twitch at his lips. “That was an insult, not an explanation.”

“Welllll…” Gabriel rolled his shoulders, scratching the side of his neck. “I’m not entirely sure where you want me to begin.”

“Do you have popcorn?” Natasha whispered.

“No!” Dean sounded scandalized.

“I could do with some,” Rhodey admitted.

“Why aren’t you worried?”

“It’s  _Tony_.”

“I’m glad you’re all so entertained by my life,” Gabriel said, turning slightly towards them. “Are you going to stand there and watch?”

“Are you going to forbid us if we say yes?” Natasha asked back, batting her eyes.

“We could go somewhere else,” Coyote said. “You owe me a drink or two.”

“Since when?” Gabriel scoffed, turning back to him.

“Since V-E Day,” Coyote said. “And don’t pretend you paid me back for those, because you  _didn’t._ ”

“What – I  _did_!”

“No, you  _didn’t_.”

“Come on,” Gabriel protested. “I know for a fact that I got you at least a  _few_ after then.”

“Yeah, and I got _you_ a few, you still owe me; let’s just find a bar already.”

“Fine.” Gabriel snapped his fingers, dumping all of them into the nearest bar he located that wasn’t too shabby. “Go find something fun to do,” he told his friends, making little shooing motions with his hands. “Don’t kill anyone,” he said to the brothers.

“Oh, come on,” Rhodey said, staggering only slightly before steadying. “I want to know how you ended up owing someone drinks for half a century.”

"Being a cheapass," Coyote stage-whispered.

“I’ll tell you later,” Gabriel said, pointedly ignoring Coyote.

“And then you  _won’t_  tell me.” Rhodey gave him a look. “You think I don’t know you?”

“Beat me at Monopoly and I  _guarantee_  you that I’ll tell you.”

Rhodey snorted. “You are kidding, right? Make that poker.”

“Done.” Gabriel pointed to an empty table. “Now go shoo and talk about how bad garlic isn’t for vampires.”

Coyote watched Rhodey (and the others) reluctantly leave with a vaguely puzzled expression. “The hell are they?”

“Friends,” Gabriel said. “I do have more than just you, y’know.”

“I’m insulted at the implication that I’m not worth more than just one friend.”

“Everything insults you if you want to be insulted by it. I need some friends who don’t drive me crazy.”

Coyote looked over to where Rhodey, Natasha, and James were now whispering and glancing back at Gabriel as if plotting something evil. “I see you found them.”

“Compared to you, they’re easy.” Gabriel tapped on the bar, signaling the bartender for two drinks.

“I’m  _sure_.” Coyote gave the still hovering Winchester brothers a wide grin and waggled his eyebrows.

Sighing, Gabriel shot the Winchesters a look that told them they better be gone within five seconds. “Don’t antagonize them. They’re not  _that_  nice.”

“Spoilsport,” Coyote muttered as the Winchesters reluctantly retreated, joining the other three at their table. “Are you gonna start explaining, or do I have to start announcing to the bar at large that there’s an angel turned pagan in their midst?”

“As if they’d believe that. My sibs have been pretty clear on that whole ‘pagans and angels don’t mix’ thing.”

“Right.” Coyote leaned his elbows on the bar, hands propping up his chin. “Siblings. Seriously, how does that work?”

“Honestly, Upstairs is a lot more fucked up than any of them would tell humans,” Gabriel said. “I got tired of it.”

Coyote grabbed the first drink the bartender slid down to them. “Which is why you decided to become a pagan? Was there ever even a Loki?”

“I  _am_ Loki,” Gabriel said, a little more sharply than he’d meant to. “Pagan was the furthest I could be from an angel, but that doesn’t mean the angel part cancelled out everything else, or else you would have known a  _lot_ sooner. Hell, if I hadn’t been Loki, no one would have thought I was in the first place.”

“So you’re saying you just  _turned into_ a god?”

“You out of anyone here should know how powerful belief is,” Gabriel said, and Coyote paused.

“Belief doesn’t start from nowhere,” Coyote said eventually.

Gabriel didn’t respond immediately, running a finger through the moisture on his glass. It had been cold that particular day...and dark. He hadn’t really felt it, but that Jötunn had, lost and alone as he was…

Gabriel had offered him a way out, had explained what it meant. He’d still been a little surprised when the Jötunn had accepted.

“Sometimes it does.” Gabriel took a slow drink, restraining a grimace at the taste. “In any case, I  _was_  Loki. Still am. No one actually knew who I was, and I liked it that way.”

“It must’ve been bad, if an angel was willing to actually become a  _pagan_.” Coyote’s voice was noncommittal. “What happened?”

“You really want to know?” Gabriel asked dryly. “We could be as bad as Asgard, sometimes. I’m sure you’ve heard of Sodom and Gomorrah.”

“Right. Your side’s job, wasn’t it? That was some awful business.”

“Yeah.” Gabriel hesitated, barely. “Kinda wish I hadn’t needed to get personally involved with that one.” But orders were orders.

“Hold up,” Coyote said, eyes widening. “You –  _personally_? I thought everyone was convinced that was archangel business.”

Gabriel gave him a flat look, eyes glinting slightly.

“Oh,” Coyote said, and then, “shit, there’s no way pagan magic was enough to hide  _that._ ”

“Apparently, it was,” Gabriel said.

“This is really just making me confused about how much you disliked Puritans, you know,” Coyote told him.

“Oh, please. As if the Puritans were the epitome of a good Christian society.”

“Aaannnd…you would know. Of course.” Coyote took a long slug from his drink. Then, “So which one are you? Not the new one. Or Raphael. I heard Michael was the bigwig in charge of that so-called apocalypse a while back.”

Gabriel scrunched up his face slightly at being compared to Michael. “None of the above. If I’d been in Michael’s place, things would have gone a lot differently.”

“Obviously not Lucifer.” Coyote seemed to be on a roll. “That leaves…Gabriel.”

“Spot on.”

Coyote just raised his eyebrows. “I expect to know exactly what happened with Mary.”

“Like you care that much about Biblical events.”

“No, but...how did that work? What did you  _say_? Everyone always portrays angels as so...stiff, and all the movies have you as being weird.”

“The opposite of what I’m like now, you mean. Since when do you watch movies with archangels in them?”

“Since Hollywood’s special effects have actually gotten somewhat decent and their angels are more human than supposedly  _angelic_.”

“Hollywood has a  _long_ way to go before they manage to portray accurate angels.”

Coyote shrugged, grinning lopsidedly. “They can consult you guys now, right?”

Gabriel nursed another sip of his drink, then said, “You’re taking this better than I expected.”

“Please,” Coyote said. “You’re still the guy who went with me to Paris in 1860. I could blackmail you six ways to Sunday. I’m not scared of you or anything.”

“We agreed never to bring up Paris again,” Gabriel said, but relief was flooding him. If Coyote wasn’t that upset with him (and more upset over the keeping secrets thing), then maybe this wasn’t as difficult as he’d thought it would be.

“No,  _you_  suggested it, and I just nodded.” Coyote tipped the glass in Gabriel’s direction.

“Whatever. Paris was still your idea, not mine.”

“You  _went_ with it.” Coyote waved his glass around. “Paris aside, what are you doing here  _now_? I thought you  _died._ ”

“Technically, I did,” Gabriel admitted. “Perks of having an omniscient and all-powerful Dad, I guess.”

“So, this…” Coyote gestured at Gabriel’s body. “Is because you were resurrected?”

“Yep.” Gabriel waved for another drink. “Wouldn’t really recommend it as a way to get a makeover.”

Coyote squinted at him. “Are you taller?”

“Do you seriously pay that much attention to detail?”

“Hey, I notice things. It’s hard not to when you spend enough time around someone.”

“I would’ve thought you’d pay more attention to my  _face_.”

Coyote shrugged. “You’ve still got that same crazy grin. There’s no difference.”

“My grin is not crazy.”

“It’s generally the type of grin that precedes an excellent prank.” Coyote nudged Gabriel’s glass with his own. “And this whole thing – you being Loki? That was a prank that I should have known about.”

“Obviously,” Gabriel said dryly. “Only a trickster god would manage to prank at least an entire pantheon just by existing.”

It wasn’t like he’d planned on it being a prank. It had been a survival tactic that had turned out for the best.

At least until he’d been outed, anyway.

An idea occurred to Gabriel. “Speaking of pranks,” he said, “how’d you like to help me seriously mess with Asgard?”

Coyote hummed noncommittally, swishing his drink around for several minutes. Then, in a casual tone, “What are you suggesting?”

“Nothing too big…” Gabriel leaned back, pressing his hands onto the top of the counter. “Just some jail-breaking… You ever hear of my kids?”

It took a moment, and then Coyote grinned broadly. “ _No._ ” He sounded gleeful. “This is what you came back for?”

“What do you think?” Gabriel leaned in. “You in?”

“Anything to mess with that dick Odin.”

Gabriel paused, glancing askance. “You know he’s dead, right?”

“Doesn’t matter. They keep  _ravens_. Any pantheon that actually thinks ravens are any good deserves to get messed with.”

Coyote really hadn’t changed. “Frigg probably still has those two around, anyway,” Gabriel mused. “First step isn’t breaking into Asgard or anything, but it will still majorly piss them off.”

“Pissing them off is good,” Coyote agreed. “Who are we going for first?”

“Fenris.” That one wasn’t in question.

“The wolf, okay.” Coyote nodded. “D’you know where he is?”

“…I’m working on it.”

A grin flashed across Coyote’s face. “Let me know when you’ve got it.”

Gabriel huffed, rubbing a hand over his face. “If you’ve got any ideas, I’m all ears. I’ve been all over Europe at this point.”

“I thought there were nine realms. You haven’t tried the other eight?”

“How well do you think me showing my face in any of those places would go?”

“Hilariously,” Coyote said.

“For you, maybe.” Gabriel rolled his eyes. “There’s only so many he could be in, anyway. Asgard—”

“Obviously,” Coyote interrupted.

Gabriel ignored him. “—and Vanaheim, maybe, they’ve always been close with Asgard. Jotunheim’s a possibility, too, but anywhere else is nowhere near as likely unless Odin was being weirdly imaginative.” Remembering what that book had said, Gabriel forced himself to breathe in slowly, flexing his fingers. “The myths don’t have anything in them.”

“You read your own mythology?”

“Shut up. Yes.” It wasn’t like any of the gods had  _told_  him where they stashed his kids. Probably because they thought he’d go off and start Ragnarok prematurely. Though…Michael’s face if that had happened would have been hilarious.

“Are they even accurate?” Coyote asked skeptically.

“Mostly. Bits and pieces, but that’s basically all that’s left of the original stuff.”

“No wonder hunters get the better of some of us.” Coyote scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Maybe if I go changing some of that stuff…”

“Like anyone would be able to track down anything good about you even without you changing it.” Gabriel was aware of exactly how few Native American legends had survived. “The most they’re going to get is Wikipedia.”

“Fair enough. It would’ve been too much effort, anyway.”

Sobering, Gabriel dragged his glass across the counter, watching the moisture trails it left behind. “I’ll see what I can find out in the other realms. If you can…maybe see what you can fish out around here.”

“Or I could follow those guys back to their batcave and scope them out,” Coyote suggested cheerfully, indicating the group that was shamelessly trying to eavesdrop and failing.

“How about you don’t?”

“Hey, if they’re crazy enough to be friends with you…”

“I’ll introduce you later.”

“Now?”

“ _Later._ ”

“Like, in an hour, or—”

“How about when I’m sure that you’re not going to inadvertently piss off the only two hunters who actually stand a chance at killing you?”

“I’m offended. You would let them?” Coyote peered into his glass. “Damn. I hope you actually have money.”

“I have all the money.”

“Teenager slang doesn’t suit you.” Coyote scrutinized him. “I think it’s the goatee.”

“I’m not shaving it.” Gabriel pulled out his wallet and some cash, leaving it in plain view of the bartender. “And I’m rich.”

“Lucky bastard.”

“Yes to the first part, no to the second.” Gabriel stood, waving briefly to his friends to let them know they were finished. Rhodey made a face and gestured to the food still in front of him. Gabriel responded with a similar face and flicked his fingers, boxing the food up.

“You are introducing me to them,” Coyote told him, downing the last of his drink and Gabriel’s before standing as well. “I have to meet the humans that just don’t care.”

“They’ve gotten used to it,” Gabriel said. “My life has hardly gotten less weird. The humans here will get used to it, too.”

“The increase in worshippers is nice,” Coyote admitted. “It’s a bit of a jarring boost.”

“Is that what you were talking about this whole time?” Natasha asked as the two groups joined on their way to the door.

“Obviously not,” Gabriel said. “We were also reminiscing fondly about all the shit we’ve pulled.”

“The colonies,” Coyote mused. “They were assholes.”

“You’ve said that about almost everyone you’ve met,” Gabriel reminded him.

“That’s because for almost everyone I know it’s true! And the colonists were  _really_  assholes for what they did. Even I keep my word.”

“You mean what happened with the Native Americans?” Sam asked, hovering just several feet away as if unsure of his welcome.

“Like I said,” Coyote said, “ _assholes_.”

“Sounds fair,” Rhodey said. “Is your name actually Coyote, or is that just what he calls you?”

Coyote’s grin was quicksilver. “What do  _you_  think?”

“I think he’s trying to pull a fast one,” Sam said. “You’re a figure in Native American folklore, literally a mischievous trickster. But you’re also called a Creator in one; in another you put the stars in the skies.”

“Oh, I like the sound of this kid.” Coyote was still grinning.

“You like anyone who flatters you,” Gabriel said.

“It’s not flattery if it’s true.”

“Half of that is Christian influence.”

Coyote made a face at him. “So? I was still  _involved._ ” He had his hands in his pockets, playing with whatever he kept in there.

“So you’re Coyote,” Rhodey concluded easily, looking slightly baffled by the conversation.

“Are you going to be helping out?” James asked, eyes slightly narrowed.

“Gods don’t  _help_ ,” Dean muttered, lagging several feet behind Sam. “Not without a price.”

“ _Most_  gods don’t,” Coyote said, grinning just a bit too sharply at Dean. “But Loki’s a friend, and I like pulling a fast one over Asgard. This’ll be  _fun_.”

“So...you’re completely cool with who he is?” Rhodey sounded disbelieving. “From what Tony said, I thought there’d be more stabbing and less talking. And less drinking.”

Coyote shot Gabriel a curious look before looking back at Rhodey. “I love pranks. What Loki did? The most epic prank  _ever_. I’m just pissed he never told me.”

“No one else will be as happy,” Gabriel told Rhodey. “Coyote’s special.”

“Hell yes I am,” Coyote said, preening.

“So there will likely be stabbing,” Natasha noted.

“I’m not dying anytime soon,” Gabriel said.

“It’ll just be stabbing and maybe he’ll keel over dramatically and pretend to be dead,” Dean said. “He’s good at that.”

“You mean, my illusory people are good at that,” Gabriel corrected him. “Seriously, Dean? You were dealing with a trickster and when the bed didn’t vanish it never occurred to you that I might still be alive?”

“Okay,” James said, “you’ve lost me.”

“First time we met,” Gabriel informed him, while Sam looked vaguely embarrassed. “Let’s say I tried to bribe Dean-o with some lovely ladies and a nice bed so that he’d leave me alone. He didn’t take the bait.”

“And then that  _idiot box_.” Dean still looked rather unhappy at the memory.

“Oh, come  _on_. That was  _great_.”

“I have got to hear this story later.” Natasha looked intrigued. “How did you ever end up on the same side?”

“You remember the apocalypse I kept talking about back when you still thought I was insane?” Gabriel looked up at the sky. “I ended up being convinced to throw my lot in with the humans. Got killed. Resurrected. I blame him.” He pointed at Dean.

“Dude!” Dean protested. “What did I do?”

“Gave me a kick in the ass. I did vote for running away. You voted no.” Eyes closing briefly, Gabriel shook the memory away. “At least the message I left helped.”

Sam made an indignant noise. “It was  _porn_.”

“Only the  _second_ half.”

“He has a point,” Dean conceded.

“Is this why you keep trying to convince us to do a porn video?” Rhodey asked Gabriel accusingly.

“That was  _once._ And it was Bruce who brought up the idea, and James suggested it, too—”

“I said it was for charity!” James protested, but he was grinning.

“I’m not talking about porn with any of you in public,” Sam said. “I’m regretting even _mentioning_ that video.”

“Did you keep it?” Gabriel asked.

“ _No_.” Dean sounded disgusted.

“Mostly because of the information it had,” Sam admitted, and Dean shot him a betrayed look. “Couldn’t risk it getting into anyone else’s hands.”

“Smart lad.” Gabriel shot him a grin. Then, stopping and turning on his heel, he turned to the others. “I’ll drop you back off at your ride. Coyote and I are going to check out what we can find with Fenris. We’ll meet you back at the bunker.”

He clapped a hand on Coyote’s shoulder and whisked them both away.

* * *

It wasn’t until the town had disappeared behind them that Rhodey asked Dean the question that had been bugging him ever since Tony had left. He didn’t feel at all bad about bringing it up because he’d ask Tony the same thing once he came back and wasn’t so worried about his kids.

“What happened with him?” Rhodey kept his tone even, free of accusation. “How come he said he was  _convinced_ to side with you?”

“You sure you want to be asking  _me_  that?” Dean’s eyes went to his in the rearview mirror. “Thought you’d rather ask him.”

“There’re two sides to every story; I learned that much in my time in the Air Force. Besides, Tony’s not too likely to share everything.” He never had been the type, something always telling him not to trust.

“Sounds familiar,” Dean said, sighing. “All right. We thought he was just a trickster the first time we met him –  _the_  Trickster, he said. Ended up thinking we’d killed him and left it at that. Then, about a year or so later, we met him again.”

“It wasn’t any better than the first time.” Sam pulled a hand through his hair absentmindedly. “It was some kind of twisted version of Groundhog Day. Like the movie. I – it was just endless Tuesdays. And…he killed Dean off a different way each day. When I finally managed to catch him for good, he agreed to stop it. We didn’t see him for a while after until Lucifer was out.”

“That’s when we figured out he wasn’t really a trickster,” Dean continued. “We got him to ‘fess up, and he left us alone after that.”

“Was that when that whole ‘idiot box’ thing happened?” There was no hint of what Natasha was thinking in her tone.

“He wanted us to ‘play our roles,’” Sam said, mimicking Tony’s voice. “Put us in what was basically fake TV shows to get us to play his ‘game.’ We didn’t get what he wanted until we’d gone through a couple.”

“He was  _for_ the apocalypse?”

“He wasn’t pulling for either of them.” Dean was frowning slightly. “But he said he just wanted it over with. I was all for ganking him when we found out it was the trickster, but Sam here thought we might be able to  _reason_  with him. Worst decision ever.”

“It’s not like he’d have stayed dead,” Sam pointed out. “And he had us right where he wanted us.” He glanced back at Rhodey. “We managed to trick him into a circle of holy fire, got him to tell us who he was. And what he was trying to do. Stuff like that.” Sam paused. “He seemed like he had a lot of resentment built up.”

“Let’s not psychoanalyze the guy right now,” Dean said. “I think we’d need, like, a fleet of therapists per angel. Anyway, after all that, he kept his distance. We didn’t see him for a few months until the Elysian.”

“Is that supposed to mean anything?” Natasha sounded a bit like she was grinning.

“It wasn’t anything like paradise,” Sam told her, snorting. “No, it was a hotel filled with gods that lured us there.”

“We thought something weird was going on,” Dean said, “but we couldn’t  _find_  anything. Not until we snuck around a bit more. That’s when we found out that the gods were wanting an end to the apocalypse and were using us as bargaining chips. And…” He made a clicking noise with his tongue. “He showed up as  _Loki_. I dunno why he was there in the first place, but we convinced him to help us get out. Guess it helped that he knew we could out him and sic every single god in that place on him.” He grinned mirthlessly. “And the pagans would’ve been pretty pissed to find out that he was an angel.”

This wasn’t really what Rhodey had expected. “That when he decided to help you?”

“No,” Dean snorted, shaking his head. “I mean, he agreed to talk to the gods to get them working together to take down Lucifer, but that went bad the moment Kali outed him and tried to stab him. So, we thought he was dead.”

“And he wasn’t.”

“Nope.” Dean shrugged. “Fake angel blade. He faked it pretty well, though. I found him in here”—he gestured to the car—“trying to persuade me to make a getaway. I told him to man up and stick up to Lucifer already, then went back to see what we could do about the gods.”

“Lucifer was already there by that point,” Sam said, looking out the side window. “He killed all of them.”

“Except for Kali.” The corner of Dean’s lips tilted up in a small smile. “He was about to, and Sam and I weren’t doing much good, but then Gabriel showed up. He got us out of there, and…” He shrugged.

Rhodey couldn’t say it, the words stuck in his throat, but Barnes did, voice flat. “He died.”

“And he gave us what we needed to take down Lucifer for good.” Dean shot a glance back at Rhodey. “We owe him for that, and what he did with the Leviathan. And back with Heaven.” Sighing, Dean took the turn that would take them back to the bunker. “We owe him a lot.”

A few minutes later, Natasha said, “We didn’t know any of that.”

“That he was a dick? He’s still a dick, but he’s someone who’s on our side. Hell, he was the  _only_  archangel on our side.”

Rhodey didn’t say anything, eyes on the trees outside. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of what he’d just learned, but he did know that he was going to ask Tony about it. Tony had never gone into detail, but there’d always been a lot of bitterness whenever he’d talked about dying here.

And Rhodey didn’t think it was because he’d been talked into helping humans.

Dean seemed to read something of Rhodey’s thoughts in his face. “Guess you weren’t expecting to hear any of that. Hate to break it to you, but angels aren’t really all that angelic.”

Rhodey shook his head. “I knew that. I’ve known Tony for most of my life, and him becoming an angel didn’t change him much. I just didn’t know most of the details.”

And he didn’t think Dean knew most of them either.

“You know,” Sam said after a moment of silence, “I never really thought of it – but what he did at the Mystery Spot makes a lot more sense now.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dean glanced over at his brother briefly.

“Well –  _you_ know what I was like after your deal came due. He must’ve known what would happen. I mean, I guess he thought if he could head off the seals breaking, the whole apocalypse thing wouldn’t happen. Or we’d have another year or so, at least.” Sam sounded contemplative.

“You sound pretty calm for someone who got trapped in an endless loop of your brother dying,” Natasha said.

“It was a while ago,” Sam said. “I understood how much I messed up a  _long_ time ago.”

“How come he stopped that, anyway?” Dean asked. “Just ’cause you asked nicely?”

“He said he got bored.”

Rhodey could tell Sam was holding something back, but didn’t push – he wasn’t sure he wanted to know any more than what he’d already been told.

* * *

**Zahn McClarnon as Coyote**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, please! We love hearing from you guys. :D
> 
> We do have a fancast for Coyote, if you're interested - Zahn McClarnon (who apparently has a recurring role on _Longmire_ , if you've seen it)(I haven't)(Is is good? I know Richard Speight's in at least one episode).
> 
> If you're wondering _who_ Coyote is, not just what he looks like, he's a Trickster from Native American mythology. It's kind of awkward to group all First Nations religions under one umbrella, since they were all distinct and had different variations of myths or just different ones completely, but Coyote is a recurring character across the country (He's called Coyote, btw, because he usually is one).
> 
> Either that, or there are a lot of Tricksters and people decided that Coyote had a lot of time on his hands and was all of them simultaneously (entirely possible, considering the course of human history and how people reconcile their religion with another people's separate religion without dismissing either as fake but that's too complicated to get into in the author's notes).
> 
> If you're looking for myths, bettermyths.com has some pretty entertaining retellings on the 'Smorgasboard of Myths' page - just scroll down and look for the Native American tab. Coyote's not in all of them, but he's in at least a few.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Let's say I had a LOT of fun freaking Alatar out with pictures of the things that live in the deep sea. xD I mean, really. Just go and Google that stuff. It's fascinating._
> 
> All I will say is that the ocean is freaky as hell and anyone who voluntarily lives down there is scary as hell, not unlike the animals in that general area, and mermaids are probably real and look like those fish that dangle a light to lure other fish in to be eaten like in Finding Nemo.
> 
> As for the actual content of this chapter - to avoid spoilers, let's just say things are never quite as easy as they seem.

“Hey. Hey! Gabriel!” Somehow, Coyote managed to look impatient even in the form of an actual coyote. “Pay attention, will you? I don’t know how this stuff is working on an archangel and not me, but there’s definitely something here.”

“You asked your buddies,” Gabriel said, looking to where Coyote specified. In the form of an actual coyote, which Coyote often preferred, speaking to the local wildlife was fairly easy. “You were just as blind as me five minutes ago.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Coyote could roll his eyes just as well like that, too. “What do you think? Is it him?”

It looked like a river if anyone just looked, and it had looked like one to Gabriel, too. But now that he was aware of something not quite right, he could tell that there was something about it that was urging him to look elsewhere. If he pushed more energy into that space, he had no doubt that anything there would probably shatter.

And that would probably be bad.

“I think so,” Gabriel said finally, turning away from the foaming mouth of the river. To any human it looked like it was spouting from a cave in the cliff, but he had no doubt something else was its source.

“So, we’re going in?” Coyote gave the cliff a long look. “That’s just great. It had to be a cliff.”

“Blame Odin.” Father knows  _he_  was. “You’ve squeezed through tighter spaces.” And Gabriel could just make himself immaterial.

“That doesn’t mean I like doing it.” Coyote sniffed, looking as haughty as a coyote could manage.

Exhaling, Gabriel stepped slightly sideways in reality, reaching that place that would let him slip through solid objects and tangible enchantments.

“Cheater!” Coyote scrambled up the side of the cliff, far more gracefully and easily than an actual coyote would have been able to. Gabriel glanced behind him at the empty sky, reassuring himself that there were no raven spies to report back to Asgard.

They didn’t know he was here yet; there would be no one coming to stop him.

With another useless breath, Gabriel pushed forward through the layers of enchantments that reached forward to trip him up, slipping through them only slightly hesitantly. Stepping through the cliff wall didn’t put him in the middle of a rock face the way stepping through another cliff would have. Instead, he found himself standing in a dark cavernous space, the center of which was a huge gray wolf.

At first glance, the wolf just seemed to be standing there, but when one looked closely, it was possible to make out lines of a gleaming substance that looped around his limbs and body and held him immobile. It seemed insubstantial enough that the wolf could just break free and leave, but the dark liquid – both dry and fresh – painting the ground below his body suggested it wasn’t that simple.

A noise escaped Gabriel before he could stop it. He almost didn’t recognize it as his own voice, but Coyote hadn’t yet made it in, and the wolf –  _Fenris_ – was quiet. Even the sword prying his mouth apart didn’t seem to pain him anymore.

The noise caught Fenris’s attention, though he didn’t move beyond his ears twitching slightly. There was a faint whimper that sounded more frightened and exhausted than questioning, and it died out as quickly as it came.

Slowly, haltingly, Gabriel moved forwards, dropping to his knees before his son. Shaky hands touched the gray muzzle, leeching the old pain that wracked the other’s body. “ _Fenris_.”

He didn’t think Fenris could see him. The only reason Gabriel had slipped through the enchantments binding Fenris was because he wasn’t quite  _here_. He had to rely on Coyote to manage the rest.

“ _Fuck_.” That was Coyote’s voice behind him, and the trickster sounded just as appalled as Gabriel had. “Those are some nasty spells.”

“Can you unbind it?”

“It is so creepy when it’s just your voice,” Coyote mused, coming closer to Fenris to inspect his bindings. “If you help, I can manage it.”

There was no sense of time in that in-between space where Fenris was bound, but that didn’t matter. It was still too long. When the bindings eventually fell away, Gabriel rushed forward to try and stop Fenris from collapsing to the ground, forgetting his insubstantiality for a moment. When that failed, he destroyed the sword in a second, easing Fenris’s mouth shut, stroking it once. Then, taking hold of Fenris, Gabriel pulled backwards, stepping back out of the cliff and onto solid ground.

Within a second, Gabriel materialized in the real world, his hands actually sinking into Fenris’s fur. “Fenris.”

Fenris hadn’t had the capability of speech the last time Gabriel had seen him in this form, and he doubted that had changed in the intervening time.

Gabriel bent over Fenris’s silent form, words almost muffled in the fur. “I’m sorry it took so long.” It came out sounding a bit helpless.

Not for the first time, Gabriel wished that he could just  _heal_  without worrying about hurting the other person.

Fenris tried to push to his feet, and Gabriel didn’t push him back down for fear of aggravating something. It didn’t work, in any case - Fenris lay back down on his belly with a thump and a slightly pained huff of breath.

“Take a minute.” Gabriel stayed sitting with him, stroking one hand over Fenris’s muzzle and leeching what pain he could, very cautiously extending healing Grace. He could see Fenris’s eyes on him, and saw when they widened in surprised recognition.

He didn’t look very pagan anymore. Gabriel would be surprised if Fenris didn’t have any questions for him.

“Last I remember,” Gabriel said quietly, “you were still learning how to speak in this form.”

There was a warm huff of breath against his hand, but Fenris didn’t disagree.

“Gee, thanks for just leaving me in there.” Coyote sounded vaguely disgruntled as he flopped down next to Gabriel, whiskers twitching. “How’s the kid doing?”

Gabriel spent another moment cautiously healing the injuries he could sense in Fenris’s body before answering. “Considering everything, all right. But…” He shrugged, not wanting to mention the invisible scars that they couldn’t see.

They sat there for another few minutes, the only movement that of Gabriel stroking a hand down Fenris’s muzzle to soothe the remaining aches and pains.

Eventually, with a small shudder, Fenris’s form blurred and twisted until it was human. There was a pained grimace on his face at the effort the shapeshifting had cost him, but the reason why he’d done it was answered when he twisted to bury his face into Gabriel’s stomach, one hand coming around to grip the back of Gabriel’s shirt.

Without the fur, the marks and scars from his imprisonment were more noticeable. The oldest were silvery and fading, and the newest an angry red.

Gabriel pushed down a surge of fury at the sight, forcing himself to take several slow breaths. He couldn’t afford to lose his temper now, not with Fenris and Coyote here.

“He’s as resilient as you,” Coyote said after a moment, eyes on Fenris’s back.

Gabriel snorted, remembering how resilient he really wasn’t. He looked down at Fenris, rubbing a hand over his back and idly noticing that his clothes were about six centuries out of style. “ _Did you want to talk?_ ” Modern English was definitely beyond Fenris’s comprehension.

The answer, when it came, was hoarse and in Norse. “ _Not…right now._ ”

“ _Fair enough._ ” Gabriel drew his hand up Fenris’s back and though his hair. “ _But we shouldn’t stay here. Do you mind if I move us somewhere safe?_ ”

Fenris considered the question, turning his face slightly to look up at Gabriel with amber eyes. He eventually nodded, fingers flexing where they gripped Gabriel’s shirt.

Taking a breath, Gabriel reached out to touch Coyote, whisking all of them away and into the bunker in the bedroom that he had stayed in before. It was better than appearing in the middle of the others, raising questions that he wasn’t prepared to answer right now.

Fenris rolled over, looking around the room without moving anything but his head. It was still pretty empty of anything but the bed and a dresser, though at least the sheets had been replaced. Gabriel guessed that it was one of the many unoccupied rooms in the bunker.

“ _Humans live here_ ,” Gabriel said, answering Fenris’s unspoken question. “ _They won’t hurt you_.”

With an easy fluidity that came from centuries of practice, Coyote shifted back to his human form, stretching lazily as he also looked around the room. “Winchesters, hm?”

“Don’t antagonize them,” Gabriel repeated his earlier words.

Coyote waved a dismissive hand, shifting to his feet in one fluid movement. “Boring. I’m just waiting for Asgard to realize one of their most dangerous prisoners has escaped. That should be  _interesting_.”

“Sure,” Gabriel said, no longer in the mood to joke around with Coyote. “I’ll see you later, then?”

Coyote didn’t seem too hurt by Gabriel’s dour mood, simply giving Fenris one last look before leaving the room to probably scare the shit out of whoever happened to be in the bunker.

Once alone with Fenris, Gabriel shifted until his back was to the bed. Then, sighing, he returned to rubbing Fenris’s back.

“ _Take as long as you need,_ ” Gabriel told him, gently running fingers through Fenris’s tousled gray hair.

Fenris sighed, throat rippling as he swallowed. He wet his lips, eyes flickering between Gabriel’s face and the ceiling.

Gabriel’s own throat ached, his Grace flaring slightly in remembered pain. “ _Does it still hurt?_ ”

Fenris’s eyes went to Gabriel’s. After a moment, he nodded.

Taking a slow breath, Gabriel closed his eyes, fingers going to Fenris’s jaw. Even the light touch had Fenris flinching.

Healing was difficult now, but it didn’t mean Gabriel didn’t remember how it went. Slowly, he let his Grace smooth away the aches and the soreness of the muscles, healing the tears that he could sense.

Gradually, the tension seeped out of Fenris’s muscles, and he let his head fall back, eyes falling shut as Gabriel’s Grace healed him.

When he was finished, Gabriel exhaled in relief, pulling his Grace back in and letting his fingers trace the curve of Fenris’s jaw. “ _Better?_ ”

When Fenris spoke this time, his voice was still hoarse but free from pain. “ _Yes._ ”

At least he’d been able to do something.

“ _Why are you so…_ ” Fenris paused. “ _Different_?”

Gabriel had expected this question, but that didn’t mean answering it would be easy. “ _I’m…not quite the same. You’re familiar with angels, right?_ ”

“ _Dicks with wings,_ ” Fenris confirmed, the words probably something Gabriel had said at some point during his time as Loki.

Rip it off like a band-aid. “ _I’m one of them._ ”

Fenris was silent for a moment. Then he rolled over again to face Gabriel fully. “ _What?_ ” His brow furrowed in confusion, eyes scanning Gabriel’s form.

“ _I wasn’t entirely honest with you guys,_ ” Gabriel said slowly. “ _I had a life before I was Loki, one that I didn’t share with you. I’m an angel._ ” This was really the only time he’d actually explained it to someone, instead of them already knowing. “ _My name’s Gabriel._ ”

“ _Gabriel._ ” Fenris was still giving him an inscrutable look. “ _…You look like one._ ”

“ _The secret got out to everyone else. I didn’t tell them, either. No point in trying to disguise myself if everyone’s going to see through it._ ” Fenris didn’t say anything, so Gabriel quickly said the rest. “ _I **was**_   _Loki. Really. I was just…Gabriel first._ ”

“ _Why did you pretend?_ ”

“ _I didn’t. I’m Loki, but I’m Gabriel, too._ ” Gabriel’s hands curled into fists on his legs. “ _No one knew._ ”

Fenris didn’t say anything, but it easy enough to read the hurt. “ _Is…that why you didn’t come?_ ”

“ ** _No_** _._ ” In spite of himself, Gabriel reached out to touch Fenris’s cheek. “ _If I could have, I would have come before. I just…it would have done neither of us good if I was killed by the other angels._ ”

“ _So it is._ ” Fenris drew back, pulling away from Gabriel.

Gabriel let his hand drop. “ _I’m sorry._ ” His voice cracked slightly.

“ _Can you…_ ” Fenris looked away. “ _I’d like to be alone._ ”

“ _I can do that._ ” Gabriel stood, putting space between them. “ _Just…find me when you’re ready._ ”

Fenris didn’t respond, and Gabriel wasn’t going to push for one. As he left the room, there was a soft shuffle of fur on the blankets.

It wasn’t until he was outside the room and out of Fenris’s sight that he let his shoulders slump, his hands coming up to rub at his face.  _Fuck._

“Tony?” Rhodey sounded hesitant.

Gabriel looked up at Rhodey standing awkwardly several feet away, face uncertain. Managing a painful smile, Gabriel let his hands drop to his sides. “I think that was a success.”

“Sure.” Rhodey stepped closer, reaching out to squeeze Gabriel’s shoulder comfortingly. “So…I’m pretty sure I saw a wine cellar somewhere in here. I can get really drunk in solidarity and you can pretend?”

There was still Jormungandr and Sleipnir to worry about, but he wasn’t going to leave until he could talk to Fenris. He wasn’t going to let Fenris think that he’d left him alone again.

“Sounds good,” Tony said, his next smile easier to manage. “I’ll show you the dungeon while we’re at it.”

“I don’t think that’s a great idea when I’m drunk, but who cares. Lead the way.”

* * *

Rhodey was dead asleep and Tony was considering the fact that he’d probably have to clean up when he heard the faint click of claws on the floor.

Turning, he saw Fenris enter the room, glancing briefly at Rhodey before focusing on Tony.

“Fenris.” Gabriel shifted, drawing in on himself.

Fenris tilted his head, then shifted to human form, hugging himself. He glanced again at Rhodey.

“ _That’s Rhodey,_ ” Gabriel explained, kicking an empty bottle under the nearest couch. “ _He’s a friend._ ”

“ _Does he know who you are?_ ”

Gabriel flinched slightly. “ _Yes. I didn’t tell him at first, either._ ”

“ _But he knows._ ”

“ _Yes._ ” The word was a sigh, Gabriel’s head dropping. “ _I didn’t plan on it._ ”

“ _Telling him?_ ”

“ _Yes. Humans…don’t deal well with surprises like that._ ” Gabriel drew in a breath through his teeth. “ _But having to keep it secret from so many people I wanted to tell wasn’t fun._ ”

“ _So you wanted to tell us._ ”

The answer was so complicated that Gabriel couldn’t even begin to explain the true depth of it. At the time that he’d taken in the kids, he hadn’t even really been  _Gabriel_. There had been nothing to say.

“ _If there had been something to say,_ ” Gabriel said finally, “ _I would have. But...at that time…there was only Loki._ ”

Fenris looked at his feet, toes curling in on themselves. “ _But you were an angel._ ”

“ _Then? Not really. It’s…_ ” Gabriel sighed. “ _Difficult. Belief makes it tricky. I never stopped being Gabriel, I guess, but most of the time I was Loki much more than Gabriel. The two…don’t really work well together. Not at the same time._ ”

Fenris looked at Gabriel, eyes on his Grace in his body. “ _I don’t think I understand it._ ”

“ _I don’t pretend that I do. Not completely._ ”

“ _That was a lie,_ ” Fenris said. “ _Who you were at that time. But nothing else?_ ”

“ _Loki wasn’t a lie,_ ” Gabriel said. “ _None of that was pretend. I didn’t pretend to love any of you._ ”

“ _It wasn’t a game to you? A trick? Because the others hated us and you wanted to do something they’d hate?_ ”

“ _No. **No**_.  _Of **course** not._” Gabriel shifted his weight, leaning forward. “ _You…frightened them, but you were just kids. And I could help you. So I did. None of that was a lie, Fenris. I swear._ ”

Fenris seemed to relax, his shoulders slumping slightly. “ _I believe you. And…_ ” He inched closer, head down. “ _I’m glad…you didn’t forget me._ ”

“ _How could I ever forget any of you?_ ” Gabriel reached out hesitantly, unsure of his reception after what had happened last time.

But the moment he touched Fenris, he found his arms full, Fenris wiggling in closely, arms tight around Gabriel. Gabriel’s breath left him like he’d been punched, and he tightened his grip, his lips pressed into Fenris’s hair.

Fenris pushed his nose into Gabriel’s shoulder, inhaling deeply. After a minute of doing this, he said, voice muffled, “ _What about the others?_ ”

Gabriel closed his eyes, resting his chin on top of Fenris’s head. “ _I’m going to go find them next._ ”

“ _Where…am I going to stay?_ ”

“ _You’ll be safe here. The brothers are hunters, but they won’t hurt you._ ”

Fenris looked like he might be about to protest, but his stomach chose that moment to growl loudly, startling both of them.

“ _Hungry_?”

“ _Yes,_ ” Fenris admitted. “ _It’s…been a long time._ ”

Something inside Gabriel twisted. “ _Well, we’d better fix that, then._ ”

Several feet off to the side, Rhodey groaned faintly, hitting something that sounded suspiciously like several bottles.

“ _I should probably try to get him sober, too._ ”

* * *

Gabriel was surprised anyone was in the kitchen, but given that the Winchesters were probably used to operating on about four hours of sleep, he probably shouldn’t have been.

Sam, to his credit, glanced at Fenris and seemed to guess the situation. “Hey,” he greeted Gabriel.

Gabriel nodded back. “What kind of food do you have in here?”

“Seeing as how Dean really likes to cook, just about everything.” Sam looked back at the cabinets. “What are you in the mood for?”

“What would you like?” Gabriel asked Fenris, using the Allspeak so Sam could understand.

“ _Something…with meat?_ ” Fenris shifted his weight nervously, pressing into Gabriel’s side. “ _I think I can smell something._ ”

Nodding, Gabriel turned back to Sam. “Hamburgers, maybe? Do you have that?”

“He understands English but doesn’t speak it?” Sam asked, opening the freezer and taking some meat patties out.

“His English is pretty good,” Gabriel said. Even back then, it had been a complicated language. “Just about six centuries out of date, so not a huge chance at coherent communication. This is the Allspeak, the language the Asgardians in my universe use. Everyone understands it, everyone’s happy.”

“ _Your universe?_ ” Fenris tilted his head.

“I think that topic should be shelved until your siblings are here,” Gabriel said, bringing an arm up to pat Fenris’s shoulder and squeeze him close. “I’m already not looking forward to explaining the Loki thing more than once.”

“ _It’ll be okay,_ ” Fenris assured him, a faint smile pulling at his lips. “ _You came back._ ”

Gabriel felt struck speechless. A moment ago Fenris had thought he’d been feeding them a lie, and now he was back to having such faith in  _him_.

“Did he take it well?” Sam asked, grabbing a few glass spice shakers off the table and checking the heat of the stove.

“About as well as can be expected.” Gabriel ruffled Fenris’s hair again before pushing him to a chair. “You good with the cooking?”

“Not as good as Dean, but I can manage,” Sam said. “Shouldn’t you go check on Coyote? I think he and Cas were having a staring contest with each other. Or maybe just staring.”

Not too concerned, Gabriel turned his attention to where he could sense Castiel and Coyote. There was no hostile energy surrounding them, and all he was getting from Coyote was intense curiosity and an eagerness to see if he could make Castiel laugh.

“They’re good.”

Fenris was staring around at the modern appliances curiously, and not-so-subtly trying to see what Sam was doing with the oven. Sam’s laptop was on the table, propped open. It was practically an invitation to look.

With absolutely no guilt whatsoever, Gabriel pulled it over, noted that it was the one he had hooked up to Heaven, and then started reading through the open tabs.

It was all information on the Norse gods. There was one tab open to a complicated looking family tree, and several others were open to pages describing Gabriel’s kids, including what their fates were.

Gabriel was familiar with Hel’s and Sleipnir’s, and looking at Jormungandr’s reaffirmed his decision to go after him next. The only problem was whatever might be in the way.

He just hoped it wasn’t selkies.

He could deal with just about every other supernatural threat the ocean contained, but selkies were in the category of too annoyingly curious for him to like them, and Gabriel always felt like kicking he was kicking a puppy when he said anything rude to them.

“I hope you’re not doing anything strange to it,” Sam said disapprovingly, eyeing Gabriel warily.

Gabriel waved him off, not taking his eyes off the screen. “Ye of little faith.”

Sam snorted in disbelief, then seemed to promptly regret it when he inhaled a whiff of onions. “Thanks for what you  _did_  do. It doesn’t need charging anymore.”

That hadn’t actually been what Gabriel planned on happening, but whatever worked. “Sure.”

“ _What is that?_ ” Fenris asked, leaning in close to peer at the screen.

“A computer,” Gabriel told him, turning the laptop slightly so Fenris could see it better. “You missed electricity being invented. Humans have gotten pretty advanced. This…is like an advanced messaging system and library. A lot better than ravens and books.”

Fenris considered this. “ _Ravens stink,_ ” he said finally. Then, “ _How big of a library is it?_ ”

“As big as you want.”

“… _Is what I missed in there_?”

“Sure.” He’d just have to translate it first. Easing Fenris into modern English would be interesting, but it shouldn’t take too long for him to get it. Though…maybe he should consider the Allspeak instead.

The main problem with teaching a language was that Gabriel had never actually  _learned_  a language. He did remember learning English while growing up human, but that had been with absolutely no prior knowledge of speaking. Every other language he knew had essentially been “downloaded” into his head.

“We’ll start with language,” Gabriel said finally. “That way you can talk to the others.”

“ _Couldn’t you just tell me what happened?_ ”

“Trust me, learning English is worth it, especially if it keeps on being one of the more common languages.” Gabriel sighed, pushing the laptop away. “And there’s a lot of history to cover. You’d be better off reading it and finding it out on your own. It’s more fun that way.”

Fenris looked like he was tempted to argue with Gabriel’s definition of “fun.”

Sam had stopped moving and seemed to be contemplating something. “Does he like onions?”

“Put them on the side.” Gabriel leaned over to get a better look at what the meat patty was doing. It still looked rather pink; he discreetly turned the heat up and urged the meat to cook a little faster.

Sam didn’t seem to notice, although he did turn to coaxing it to turn brown, leaving everything else to the side. He didn’t turn when Rhodey stumbled in, squinting into the light and looking none-too-pleased to see Gabriel sitting there.

“What happened to solidarity?” Rhodey demanded, sitting down heavily in the other seat next to Gabriel.

“Hey, I sobered you up.”

Rhodey narrowed his eyes briefly before inclining his head, grudgingly conceding the point. Then he looked at Fenris, face softening. “This Fenris?”

“Yep. Fenris, this is my buddy Rhodey. He doesn’t bite.”

“You talking about me or him?” Rhodey stuck his hand out for Fenris to shake.

Fenris looked at it like it might bite him.

After a moment of awkward staring, Gabriel took pity on Rhodey. “Shaking hands wasn’t really done back then.”

“You could have told me that before,” Rhodey muttered.

“ _He’s human?_ ” Fenris sounded like he wasn’t sure.

“He’s my best friend.” Gabriel pretended not to notice the faint blush dusting Rhodey’s cheeks. “He’s cool.”

Fenris studied Rhodey for a few moments. “ _What kind of name is Rhodey?_ ”

Gabriel snorted despite himself, grinning broadly.

“What?” Rhodey demanded, eyes flickering between them.

“It’s a nickname,” Gabriel managed, stifling mirth. “You...when you see Pepper, let me be there.”

“He’s coming back with us, then?” Rhodey sounded just a bit surprised.

The question reminded Gabriel that it was very likely Fenris wouldn’t be coming back – that he’d prefer to stay here. Humor dissipating just as quickly as it had come, Gabriel dropped his eyes to the table, unwilling to answer.

“ _What?_ ” Fenris asked, a sharper edge to his voice.

“Nothing, it’s…nothing.” Gabriel took a breath, looking back up at Fenris. “We’ll talk about it when the others are here.”

The answer didn’t seem to satisfy Fenris, but he did nod, sitting back in his chair. He glanced to where Sam was politely pretending not to hear them.

Noting that the burger wasn’t quite finished but almost, Gabriel did Sam the favor of flash-frying the rest and plating it before he could blink, earning only an indignant squawk.

“If you could do that before, why didn’t you?” Sam’s voice was heated, but there was a resigned slump to his shoulders as he took the plate over to Fenris. “If you want ketchup or something, let me know.”

“Ketchup wasn’t around back then,” Gabriel told him. “Burgers weren’t either, actually.” He nodded to Fenris. “Try it.”

The look on Fenris’s face after that first hesitant bite was worth just about everything Gabriel had gone through to get here. Fenris set upon it after that like – well, like a starving wolf. Gabriel tried not to think about the first part of that phrase too carefully.

Sam watched Fenris for a little bit more before saying, “I’ll make some eggs. You do your thing.”

Putting a hand on Fenris’s back, Gabriel rubbed small circles into it, carefully avoiding Rhodey’s too-knowing eyes.

Jormungandr was next, he reminded himself. And then it was just two more.

* * *

“Please don’t be selkies,” Gabriel said, looking down at the churning waters. “I hate selkies.”

“What’s so bad about them?” Coyote was looking at the water equally distastefully, though because of a general distaste for water than because of selkies. “Personally, I think you deciding that this cliff was closest to your kid was the most unfortunate part of this trip.”

“No, it’s going to be the selkies,” Gabriel insisted, rubbing the side of his head in an effort to assuage the imaginary headache he could feel brewing. “Just wait.”

Coyote eyed him like he was crazy. “They’re  _selkies_.”

Gabriel snapped his fingers. “Exactly.” Then, sighing, he said, “You good for going underwater?”

“This prank better be worth it,” Coyote said, craning his head back to look at the sky.

“I can already see the chaos in Asgard,” Gabriel reassured him. “C’mon.”

Without looking down, Gabriel stepped off the cliff and let himself fall. He didn’t feel the impact of the water breaking his fall, twisting around briefly to see Coyote following him. Once Coyote saw him, Gabriel slipped sideways, leaving a faint blur for Coyote to track.

“Again,” Coyote said once he had shapeshifted to a shark, “so  _unfair_.”

Gabriel shrugged, though he didn’t think Coyote saw it. “If you’ve got it, own it.”

“I can barely hear you down here,” Coyote complained.

“I’d get used to it. We’ve got a while to go.”

Gabriel had figured it out using a variety of maps of the ocean’s currents and other overly complicated methods, both magical and mundane; he just wished it hadn’t been the  _Irish_ coast Jormungandr was closest to.

Due to Ireland being Ireland, they ran into selkies almost immediately.

Gabriel groaned as the first one darted past them, black eyes managing to find him. “Oh, come on.”

Coyote caught up with him a bit, and the seal shot off - the former did still look like a shark. The motion stirred the water in a way that made it pass through Gabriel weirdly.

“Please don’t stop being a shark,” Gabriel said.

“I’ll be whatever I want,” Coyote said petulantly. “What’s so bad about those guys, anyway?”

“They’re like underwater dogs. I mean, I like dogs,” Gabriel said hastily, because Coyote was close enough to a dog’s ancestor that he’d never let that go if Gabriel  _didn’t_ say that, “but these guys are  _really_ persistent. Imagine being followed around by about a hundred dogs when you’re trying to do something stealthy and they’re all asking really loudly what you’re doing.”

Coyote considered that. “Whatever,” he said eventually, changing from a shark into a sort of fish that was probably more suited to deeper waters. Gabriel didn’t feel like digging through his memory to try and come up with the scientific name. “Anything else I should watch out for?”

“Hope we don’t run into Rán,” Gabriel said. “But she’s gonna be our only worry once we get too deep for selkies.”

The question was, how deep was deep enough that Jormungandr would be there?

Coyote being no longer shark-shaped, a few more selkies trailed after them, curious eyes fixed on the two of them. Gabriel flapped his wings a few times, but all it did was make them swim a little farther away.

“Hey,” Coyote said, not talking to Gabriel.

Oh, for the love of… “Don’t encourage them,” Gabriel told him.

“Who’s your friend?” one of them asked Coyote.

“Don’t tell them,” Gabriel hissed, stirring up a slight current that pushed a bit more distance between them and the selkies. All it did was make the selkies swim after them even more determinedly.

Irritated, Gabriel shot ahead of Coyote, going deeper with a single beat of his insubstantial wings. It was deep enough now that there was barely any light, but he didn’t need sunlight to navigate around the various fish and other species that inhabited the ocean.

Although the thought of what lay near the very bottom was enough to make him shudder a little.

“They’re not  _that_ bad,” Coyote said, catching up with him. “Admit it, something happened.”

“Probably not what you’re thinking of.”

“Was it embarrassing?”

“Like I said, nothing you’d be thinking of.”

Gabriel  _really_  didn’t mind dogs, but there was just something that was so aggravatingly annoying about selkies. After all, dogs didn’t exactly talk, and Gabriel didn’t  _have_  to understand them if he didn’t want to, but there was no ignoring selkies.

“Are they spies?” Coyote asked.

“They would be the world’s worst spies since none of them can keep a secret.”

“Did one of them get into your business?”

“If they  _had_ , then it wouldn’t have been secret anymore.” Gabriel shot the selkies behind them a glance. “It’s not because of anything that happened. There are some beings that you just don’t get along with.”

“I thought that was part of the gig,” Coyote said. “Being part of Upstairs.”

“Yeah, no.”

They were deep enough now that there was only the barest hint of sunlight. Coyote changed fluidly from one shape to the other, eventually settling on a nightmarish looking fish that wasn’t that big, though the teeth made up for his small physical size.

“Nice fangs,” Gabriel said sarcastically.

“Thanks,” Coyote said through the mouthful of sharp teeth that made up literally half his body size. “It’s a fangtooth fish.”

Sometimes humans really did hit on the right name for a species… “I’m not gonna ask why you know a fish weird enough to live down here well enough to shift into it.”

“Like  _you’ve_ never been bored.”

“I don’t hang out in a dark ocean when I get bored.”

“It’s called reading, moron.”

“There’s no use reading scientific textbooks that get a third of the facts wrong,” Gabriel said. “That’s what fiction’s for.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. I-Was-Apparently-There-When-All-This-Shit-Got-Made, you wanna write one yourself and get it right?”

“I probably will eventually.” He was pretty sure he’d already published several papers as a human. “Though it’s not too likely to get published.”

“Hey, people know angels are a thing now. Aren’t they already bugging you guys for answers?”

Gabriel shrugged, though Coyote probably didn’t see it. “They would probably try to stick me in a mental institution if I came out and said anything where I’m living.”

“Ha. Good luck.” Coyote probably would have snorted, if fish could do that. Or if he could manage it around all those teeth.

“Doesn’t mean they wouldn’t try.” Humans were amazingly persistent when it came to things like that.

Gabriel paused as a few creatures slinked by in the darkness - well, swam by. Coyote managed to swim backwards a little, not that Gabriel would be much of a barrier like this.

“Let’s just find your kid and get out of this place,” Coyote said. “Man, I am  _never_ going to the beach again.”

They descended more rapidly after that, the water around them getting impossibly blacker and the animals even creepier and otherworldly.

“It seems weird that we haven’t run into anything that’s tried to eat us,” Coyote muses after they’re so far down Gabriel’s pretty sure they’ve gone below whatever depths humanity had managed to reach. “Aside from the selkies, everything’s left us alone.”

Gabriel sensed the approaching presence before Coyote even finished speaking. “You  _had_ to jinx it.”

“What? What did I—” Coyote shut up the moment he saw what Gabriel had sensed. Although there was no way to express fear or displeasure through the form he was in, there was no hiding the palpable waves of “oh, fuck no” that were radiating off him.

“ _You trespass in my domain,_ ” a bony-looking fish said, the words not at all distorted by the fangs in its mouth.

“What the fuck,” Coyote hissed. “That thing looks freakier than I do right now.”

“We’re not after your place,” Gabriel told the fish.

“ _Yet you are here,_ ” a large squid said, twisting underneath them, one large eye fixed upon Coyote’s visible form. “ _And swimming ever deeper._ ”

“There’s other things down here besides your realm,” Gabriel said. “I don’t have any intention of staying any longer than necessary.”

A fish identical to the form Coyote had assumed literally swam through Gabriel. Gabriel suddenly understood what ghosts must feel like when they went through things. “ _Necessary for what?_ ”

They were by now surrounded by various fishes, all of which Gabriel could very well have gone the rest of his existence without seeing up and close. “I think you know of whom I speak, Rán.”

From above came a long shape, the inhuman looking shark keeping up leisurely with Coyote. “ _Then you wish to break his bonds?_ ”

Coyote didn’t say anything, but Gabriel could sense his confusion at the fact that Rán wasn’t attacking them.

Gabriel looked down into the depths below them, sight going through the darkness and to what lay at the bottom. “Yes.” Then, looking the viperfish swimming next to him in the eye, he said, “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you try and stop us.”

The circle of creatures that could have easily inspired Lovecraft were silent for a few moments, as if Rán was thinking over her words. She’d probably realized who Gabriel was by now, even if she’d only identified him as an angel and not Loki.

“ _I have no quarrel with you,_ ” Rán said finally, speaking through the squid below Coyote. “ _Nor with your companion. If you wish to take the beast, then take him._ ”

Despite himself, Gabriel couldn’t stop his anger from leaking out into the water around him, heating it to the point that the fish Rán was possessing fled to a safer distance. Even Coyote gave him a wider berth. “I would have thought you’d care,” he said finally, keeping his tone even.

“ _He has caused no end of trouble in his prison,_ ” Rán said dismissively. “ _I care not for this prophecy that Odin feared, and it grows wearisome dealing with the beast’s tantrums. Take him, angel, and leave._ ”

“He’s not a beast,” Gabriel snapped, his temper fraying. “At least call him by his name.”

Rán didn’t speak for a long moment, a few of the fish around them even swimming off. Eventually, the fangtooth fish said, “ _Perhaps I did speak ill, angel. You may take Jormungandr and leave. Do not return._ ” With those words, the remaining fish swam off, leaving them alone.

After a moment, Coyote said, “Fat chance of me ever coming back here. Those things are just creepy.”

Although he didn’t need to breathe in this form, Gabriel went through the motions, expelling some of his anger and reining in his Grace. The water cooled to its usual temperature. “You look like one of those right now,” he said finally.

“Not by  _choice_. Why is that only the creepy looking things live down here?”

“I’ll give you my Dad’s number and you can complain to Him, how does that sound?”

“Like a big fat nope?” Coyote made as if to shudder, but the only thing that accomplished was him swimming slightly weirdly for a second. Then, “Are you telling me you don’t  _know_?”

“Look, I’ve made my fair share of weird things, but I didn’t have any design input into the deep sea. Consider this my Dad’s experimental stage before He figured it all out.” Gabriel was never letting the Leviathan go.

“So, what, He wanted to forget about it and just shoved ’em all in the ocean?” Coyote paused. “Wait.  _You’ve_ made stuff? As in animals?”

“Designed – I  _designed_  them.” Gabriel was pretty sure that his Father had regretted the decision the instant He’d been handed the platypus.

“Like what?”

“I don’t remember all of them.” If he told Coyote the truth, they’d get distracted while Coyote made him list them all. He’d been  _very_ bored at that particular time, just barely after the beginning of Creation. “Most of them are in Australia now, probably.”

“C’mon,” Coyote wheedled. “ _Two_ examples. There’s too much weird stuff in Australia to narrow it down.”

Gabriel fixed him with a look that lost all effect thanks to his immaterial state. “What makes you think you have to narrow it down?”

“Humor me. One?”

Gabriel stayed silent an amount of time that he could claim had been used thinking until they hit the bottom. He stopped, feeling the weight of the enchantments layering the space.

“I am going to ask again,” Coyote threatened him, swimming off to inspect the magic.

“Sure, sure.” Gabriel pressed down a little further, slipping past the enchantments that Coyote couldn’t, sinking until he actually hit the rocky ground of the ocean floor.

It was stone, unsurprisingly – there was so much pressure at this depth that if he’d still been in any tangible form, he would have to use his Grace to stop himself from being crushed. At this point, even Coyote was cheating with his pagan magic.

Underneath it, he could – if he tried – hear breathing.

“It’s not as bad as it was with your other kid,” Coyote called down, swimming over Gabriel. “Guess they weren’t as freaked out by this one.”

Gabriel ran another scan of the enchantments, assessing their strength. “So I could break it if I wanted?”

“I thought we wanted to go incognito?”

“Rán will tell the others. At this point, it doesn’t matter anymore.” Sleipnir was literally in Asgard itself, and Hel was in a realm that even the gods didn’t visit lightly.

“So,” Coyote said slowly, a hint of glee entering his tone, “you want to bust it wide open?”

It really was a pity that Coyote couldn’t see his grin. “Why not. Back up a bit.”

Coyote swam up and well out of range of the various enchantments, clearing it just before Gabriel ripped into the web of magic with all the finesse of a pair of scissors. With one violent sweep of Grace, the magic holding Jormungandr into place shattered, and suddenly Gabriel was standing next to a scaly length that spanned the breadth of the ocean floor.

And before Gabriel could react, Jormungandr stirred, his form rippling, shaking the earth as he moved.

There was going to be a massive earthquake if this continued, and Gabriel would really prefer it if that  _didn’t_ happen. “ _Jormungandr_.” He brushed lightly against Jormungandr’s back, moving towards his head. “ _Hey, hey. **Jor**. It’s just me._ ”

Jormungandr stilled briefly, shock running through him. Then, slowly, his massive head rose from the ocean floor, looking directly at the insubstantial form of Gabriel. The sight of his jaws clamped onto the edge of his tail had anger surging through Gabriel, the water boiling around him.

It wasn’t until Jormungandr flinched, the water displaced with the movement disturbing the rocks around them, that Gabriel realized what he was doing.

Swallowing, Gabriel wrenched his Grace back in, stuffing his anger inside until a later time.

Calmer now, Gabriel touched him again, hand resting between Jormungandr’s nostrils. “ _You can’t really see me, but I’m here._   _It’s time to go._ ”

Jormungandr looked nervous – Gabriel was glad he could still tell what Jormungandr was thinking, even with a lack of the usual facial cues.

“ _It’s all right. Nothing’s going to happen if you let go. I won’t let them touch you_.”

Gabriel stayed close to Jormungandr, keeping one hand on him, waiting as Jormungandr obviously considered his next move. Finally, with a sigh, Jormungandr’s jaws loosened, and Gabriel helped ease the end of his tail out.

“ _Why don’t you downsize slightly?_ ” Gabriel asked softly. “ _It’ll make getting to the surface a bit easier._ ” He was glad Jormungandr had held onto his tail so gingerly – he’d worried, for a moment, that there would be tooth wounds to heal, but it was nothing more than a few bad scratches.

It was impossible for Gabriel to miss the sense of Jormungandr retracting his massive body, his form gradually shrinking down and becoming smaller, until he was no longer wrapped around the Earth. Eventually Jormungandr was small enough for a strong man to carry him, and Gabriel almost reached out to hold him before remembering that he couldn’t.

“ _Let’s go,_ ” Gabriel said instead, stirring the waters around Jormungandr. “ ** _They’ll_** _probably be here soon._ ”

He pulled them up, floating past Coyote and nudging him into action with a gentle poke. After that it was a simple matter of getting to the surface and avoiding the selkies.

“Never again,” Coyote said as soon as he was back in his usual shape, which was about three seconds after they could see the surface. He stepped out of the shallows, shaking water out of his hair. “I am  _so_ glad none of your other kids are underwater.”

“Join the club,” Gabriel said. “ _Jormungandr, you need to loosen up a little. I may not need to breathe, but I’d like to be able to._ ”

Jormungandr, who had wrapped himself around Gabriel’s arm and then around his torso the moment he’d phased back into the real world, uncoiled slightly. His head was settled on Gabriel’s shoulder, but he raised it to press against Gabriel’s cheek.

“ _All right, I love you, too._  What do you say we head back?” Gabriel glanced at Coyote questioningly.

“I would be thrilled to not be near water for at least a year,” Coyote said. “You do it, shapeshifting wore me out.”

With a small sigh, Gabriel whisked them back to the bunker, landing in an empty room so as not to scare Jormungandr with any unfamiliar faces. “Are you saying you’re not going to be drinking for a year?”

“Very funny.” Coyote gave Gabriel an unamused look. “I’ll just leave you two and see how your brother is doing. Maybe he’ll have learned to crack a smile by now.”

Gabriel chose not to tell him that Castiel could smile and had been doing so for years now. “If you keep bothering him, it’s just going to get less likely.”

“I am a ray of sunshine,” Coyote said petulantly.

“Then go shine on him.”

“I will.” Having gotten the last word, Coyote left, shutting the door behind him to give them some much-needed privacy.

Stepping back until he hit the bed, Gabriel sat, closing his eyes as he stroked gentle fingers over Jormungandr’s scales. “ _If you want to talk,_ ” he murmured, “ _then you might want to shift._ ”

Jormungandr tightened his grip briefly, rubbing his head against Gabriel’s face. Then, with a sigh, Gabriel had an armful of a gangly teenager that clung to him just as tightly as before.

Pressing his face into Jormungandr’s black hair, Gabriel squeezed Jormungandr to him, not wanting to break the silence.

Finally, nosing along Gabriel’s neck, Jormungandr whispered, “ _You don’t look the same._ ”

“ _Yeah,_ ” Gabriel breathed. “ _That…would be because of who I am. Something I didn’t tell you. My name’s Gabriel, and I’m an angel._ ”

Jormungandr didn’t say anything for a moment. Then, pulling slightly away, he looked at Gabriel in confusion. “ _Angels don’t like pagans._ ”

“ _It’s why I was one. And I **was**  Loki. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to come earlier._”

Jormungandr’s amber eyes were dark. “ _You were busy, weren’t you?_ ”

Gabriel closed his eyes, swallowing as he shook his head once. “ _No,_ ” he managed. “ _I…if I’d done anything back then…if Heaven had found me, it would have been even worse._ ”

“ _So you couldn’t come. But now you can?_ ”

“ _I wanted to. And it’s safe now._ ” Gabriel smoothed down Jormungandr’s hair. “ _Fenris is here. I’m going to get Sleipnir and Hel next._ ”

“ _Fenris is **here**?_ ” Jormungandr shot up into a sitting position. “ _Where?_ ”

“ _Somewhere in here._ ” Gabriel gave him a lopsided smile, jerking his head in the direction of the door. “ _You can go look for him, if you want—_ ”

Jormungandr was off the bed in an instant, dropping to the floor in green coils to move faster. Gabriel laughed to himself, swinging his legs off the bed and standing up. He’d better follow behind, or someone was going to break out the holy water.

* * *

**Fenris and Jormungandr (in human form)**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel's so lying, something absolutely happened with selkies :) But I leave the details up to your respective imaginations. 
> 
> You may have noticed there is art instead of a picture! That's because I immediately went, "we can't just yank somebody off the internet to be the kids, LET ME DRAW THEM." I've gotten very attached to the kids via my latest installment in the 'Vessel Verse, if you've read it (if you haven't, it features some of the same characters in this story. I'll let you guess which ones).
> 
> Fenris has a disaster masquerading as a braid, but we all love him anyway. Jormungandr has a braid too, but it's down his back so you can't see it. That's why his hair gathers in again at the bottom. He's also probably kinda damp, at least, but I didn't draw that in. The original pencil sketches are on my blog, if you want to take a look!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Another update! It took both of us until yesterday realize we were due to update the next day. ^^; But it's all good! And we have another chapter with fun conversations, weird things, and family bonding time! And Coyote. :D_
> 
> I'm afraid we might have spoiled you with the last chapter, but there's only one new arrival in this one! As for the fourth, well, you'll just have to wait and see, won't you.

Rhodey was the first person to notice Gabriel, shooting him a warm grin. “Hey, Tony. How’s it – is that a snake?” He froze at the sight of Jormungandr winding his way to Fenris, who was sitting opposite Rhodey.

“ _Jormungandr!_ ” Fenris beamed, dropping to the floor to wrap Jormungandr in a hug. “ _You’re here!_ ”

“Why is there a snake,” Rhodey said, staring. He looked half a second away from standing on his chair. To be fair, Jormungandr was pretty big. Gabriel decided not to tell Rhodey that this was much smaller than his actual form.

Gabriel came over to put a hand on Rhodey’s shoulder. “That’s Jormungandr. He doesn’t bite. And he’s not venomous unless he wants to be, anyway.”

“Does he constrict?” Rhodey asked, voice slightly higher than usual.

“Uh…well, he’d bite if you pissed him off. Same for the constriction.”

“Then I won’t piss him off.”

“Ah, he’s a sweetheart.” Gabriel dropped into the nearest empty chair. “Not a lot that you might do that could make him mad.”

Jormungandr, at this point, was wrapped almost entirely around Fenris and hissing delightedly. Fenris, completely unbothered by it, was still grinning broadly.

“Well,” Natasha said calmly from the doorway, “this isn’t something you see every day.”

“I take it that’s your other kid?” James asked from behind Natasha. “He’s scalier than I expected.”

From one second to the next, Fenris was suddenly a gray wolf. Jormungandr adjusted to the shift effortlessly, slipping off Fenris to twine under and around his legs.

With a playful nip, Fenris was off, dashing through the room and past Natasha and James with Jormungandr literally on his tail.

Tilting his head to the side, Gabriel watched their progress through the bunker, right up until they reached Dean and Sam in the kitchen. He couldn’t help but smirk at the twin shouts that erupted, both of them scrambling for the nearest weapon before Sam seemed to realize what was going on and jumped on Dean, blocking him from drawing his gun.

“Get off!” Dean shouted, voice echoing loudly enough for the others to hear.

“Don’t! That’s Jormungandr!” Sam shouted back. “He’s fine!”

“He’s a  _snake_!”

“Aren’t you going to do anything?” Rhodey asked.

Gabriel could tell that Fenris and Jormungandr were already streaking out of the room. “They’ll be fine,” he said. “The worst that’s gonna happen is they’ll get lost in the bunker.”

“I can believe that,” James said. “This place is full of rooms that look like they haven’t been touched in years.”

“Think they’ll find the dungeon?” Natasha looked back over her shoulder as if she could see them playing.

Gabriel looked for them again. Fenris and Jormungandr ran past the staircase that led to said dungeon, sprinting through winding corridors until slamming through a door and jumping onto a familiar bed. Gabriel could tell they’d curled up together before he drew most of his attention back to the room he was in.

“They’ve stopped,” he said, searching for Coyote. He found him in one of the storage rooms, poking through dusty boxes. “And I think they’ll be out for a while.” Sighing, he pushed away from the table, chair sliding across the floor. “Plenty of time for Coyote and I to go get Sleipnir.”

“You just got back,” Rhodey protested, standing up as well.

“And Rán will have undoubtedly had an Æsir visitor by now subtly asking if anyone came by to get Jormungandr,” Gabriel replied. “I wasn’t very subtle when getting him, and I don’t want them to have any time to prepare.”

“Rán?” Natasha asked.

“Sea goddess. In the same general area as he was.” It was going to be hard enough getting into Asgard with that wall protecting it, but hey. He’d been there when it was built, and the shortcuts he knew through it were probably still there.

Probably.

“Doesn’t getting Sleipnir involve breaking into Asgard?” Natasha had crossed her arms. “Sounds like a tall order.”

“Too bad Kevin’s not here,” Dean mused. “He could do some prophet-y stuff and tell you how to do it by like, seeing what you’re going to do or something.”

Gabriel turned to him, eyebrows raised disbelievingly. “You think I can’t get into Asgard on my own? It’s nothing I haven’t done before.” Although the first time had just involved getting into Idunn’s orchard and not the stables.

“ _That_ sounds like a story you should share.” James’s eyebrows had shot up at the admission, and he wasn’t alone in his surprise.

“Maybe later.” Gabriel paused. “How is Kevin, anyway?” He felt a vague, archangelic responsibility niggling at the back of his mind, even if Kevin wasn’t  _his_  responsibility, and he might as well do this one thing.

“He’s with his mom,” Sam said. “There’s not anything threatening enough to keep him confined to the bunker, and he kind of…hated it.” He ignored Gabriel’s “no kidding” expression. “So he went home. There’s a couple angels keeping an eye on him at all times, according to Raphael.”

“That’s good to know.”

“As for sneaking into Asgard,” Natasha said, changing the subject back, “we  _could_  just look it up on our own. I’m sure it’s in mythology somewhere.”

Gabriel grinned. “Aw, you know you’d rather hear it from me. The myths just don’t give it that personal touch.”

“I feel so lucky,” Rhodey drawled. “I bet you say that to all your friends.”

“Just the ones I like.” Gabriel’s grin widened briefly before he looked in the direction Coyote was. “Be back soon.”

He was pretty sure that the promise of breaking into Asgard would quickly wipe away any of Coyote’s complaints about not having any downtime.

* * *

“I thought there was a fancy bridge you guys had to get in,” Coyote said.

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m going to do, take the main gate in.” Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Really, Coyote?”

“Hey, I was just wondering.” Coyote paused, then said, “Is it really rainbow-colored?”

That was one thing that hadn’t changed between universes. “Yes, but there isn’t a pot of gold at the end.”

“I’m not an idiot, that’s Irish, not you.”

“Just covering all my bases.” Gabriel couldn’t help the teasing lilt that crept into his tone. “C’mon.”

Traveling through Yggdrasil was never easy, though Gabriel had it down to an art by this time. Coyote was less experienced, this being his first trip through the nine realms, and it had been agreed that Gabriel would give him a ride through the tree. He was the only one of the two who had any idea what traps lay on Yggdrasil’s branches, and Gabriel suspected that the cranky eagle up at the top was still there.

Last he checked, eagles and coyotes didn’t get along too well.

“If we see a squirrel,” Gabriel warned Coyote, “just don’t do anything, okay?”

Coyote’s eyes widened slightly. “What squirrel?”

Gabriel flashed him a smirk, then whisked them away and out of Midgard, getting a look at Yggdrasil for the first time in centuries.

It was always a peculiar thing, seeing the worlds from the outside. For split second, it looked ever-so-slightly out of place, and then it all fit together into branches and leaves arching into a black sky. If one could call it a sky.

“Holy shit,” Coyote said.

“Yeah,” Gabriel said, “that was pretty much my reaction, getting a first look at this.”

Coyote tilted his head up. Dimly, as though from a great distance away, lights shone around the branches over their heads. “That’s where we’re going?”

“Not quite,” Gabriel said. “Asgard’s at the top. There are four other realms in-between us and them. We might have to take a trip through a couple on the way up, just to avoid some of the bits where the branches are thinner.”

“Right,” said Coyote, and then, “do I want to know what happens if we fall off the tree?”

“You really don’t.” Even Gabriel didn’t want to think about what lay at the bottom.

“I figured.”

“We won’t fall off,” Gabriel reassured him. “If we  _do_ , that means we’re both dead anyway.”

Coyote swallowed, then muttered, “I’m sticking on Earth next time.”

“No experiencing the wonders of the universe? What a shame.” Gabriel climbed up towards Svartalfheim, pulling Coyote up after him.

The gateway to that realm was a little more ominous than most, black and vaguely sticky-looking, but Coyote followed him in with only a moment of hesitation. He gave Coyote just enough time to see what the realm looked like before pulling them back out again onto the branches. He went right past Jotunheim’s gate without even touching it. The spindly gate, which looked more like branches frosted over and frozen into a vaguely circular shape, was enough to remind him why going there was a bad idea.

He very clearly remembered how cold that realm was - that, and he had no desire to end up in a talk with Laufey. On the list of things that he didn’t want to do, having a conversation with Loki’s mother was right up on top.

He could all too well imagine Laufey’s displeasure at finding out that the original Loki had been dead long before Gabriel had snuffed it.

It was a pity, too, since he’d had some good talks with Laufey as Loki. They’d had a complicated relationship, but not necessarily an antagonistic one.

Gabriel passed through Alfheim and Vanaheim just as quickly as he had Svartalfheim, hesitating only briefly before leaving Vanaheim. Asgard’s gate was easy to find, golden and metallic, shining against the blackness of everything that wasn’t part of the tree.

Most assumed that anyone coming through would be on the Bifrost. Gabriel was one of the few who knew that the Bifrost didn’t take up the whole gate.

“Whoa,” Coyote said, impressed, at the sight of the rainbow road.

“No time to stop and admire.” Gabriel slipped around to the “underside” of the road, or what could be considered its underside. The gate looked far wider from this side, and it was easy to climb up through it and end up in the same sunny forest that didn’t look like it had changed in six hundred years.

“It’s a lot sunnier than I expected,” Coyote whispered, falling into step behind Gabriel.

“You familiar with the golden apples?”

“The one that started the Trojan War?”

Damn Aphrodite. That had only been amusing until the war started. “The  _other_  golden apples. That was the Greeks.”

Coyote took a moment. “The ones that are supposed to give these guys immortality?”

Gabriel nodded, raising his eyebrows. “Guess where we are.”

“No  _way_ ,” Coyote breathed, looking more closely at the trees. “This is the orchard?”

“Yep.” Gabriel kept moving, staying on the fringes of the orchard, Grace tightly reined in. “But the stables aren’t here.”

“Stables?” Coyote hissed. “After all the trouble we went through for the others, they’re keeping one in the  _stables_?”

“Hel’s got her own realm,” Gabriel said. “The thing with Fenris and Jor…” He paused, taking a slow breath. “They’re prophesized to be directly involved in Ragnarok. Sleipnir and Hel aren’t.”

“That’s your end of the world, right? Don’t give me that look,” Coyote said defensively, when Gabriel gave him a look. “I don’t keep track of other pantheons’ prophecies. What happened with Upstairs was so obvious even someone under a rock would’ve noticed.”

“That’s because they weren’t trying to be subtle,” Gabriel said. “But yeah, Ragnarok’s the big finale.”

“You’re not worried you’re gonna set something off?”

“I never played this big a role in  _that_ prophecy,” Gabriel said. “We’re not fulfilling anything. Nothing started when Jor…was released, and that’s when it’s supposed to.” He deliberately didn’t think of Jormungandr’s tail.

“Does Asgard know that?”

“Nope.”

“Good with me,” Coyote said. “I’d rather Earth stuck around. And while I’m thinking about it, should I be weirded out that we haven’t run into anyone yet?”

“Only Idunn hangs around in here,” Gabriel said. “Once we get into the streets, then we worry about avoiding people.”

“The stables wouldn’t happen to be near the center, would they?”

“How’d you guess?”

“Nothing’s ever easy,” Coyote muttered mutinously. “Are we hiding or just waltzing through?”

“I can cloak us, but even Asgardians will notice when Sleipnir goes missing.”

“So we sneak in and then bust our way out. Who’s gonna get in the way of a horse that’s got twice the usual number of legs?”

“Heimdall might,” Gabriel said. “And he’s probably already realized we’re here, so let’s keep moving, shall we?”

“You can’t just  _fly_  us there?” Coyote asked, wheedling slightly.

“That kind of transportation would throw up a giant red flag,” Gabriel said dryly. “Let’s not raise any until we need to.”

Gabriel could tell they were getting closer to the edge of the orchard – the trees were thinning out, and he could see glimpses of the white wall that bordered it.

Before leaving the shelter of the trees entirely, Gabriel cloaked the two of them from prying eyes. The last thing they needed was for Heimdall to catch a glimpse of them, and if Frigg realized they were in the city she’d be able to find them immediately. After that, it was a small matter of getting over the wall and then they were in the city itself.

Asgard hadn’t changed at all since Gabriel had last been here, though he would have expected  _something_  given Odin’s death. Frigg must have been keeping things together pretty well.

Walking through the streets was easy, the layout exactly the same as it had been when Gabriel had last been here. It was giving him an odd sense of déjà vu, even though he knew that without the glamour of magic hiding him from sight the various Æsir they passed would have a lot to say – and do – about his presence in Asgard.

“Hey.” Coyote flicked him on the shoulder. “Don’t get nostalgic on me. We’re here for  _your_  kid, and I have no idea where I’m going, so pay attention.”

“Right.” Gabriel took a deep breath, making sure to stay as quiet as possible. The glamour depended on attracting as little attention as possible. “Come on.”

* * *

There were fewer people around the center of the city, which meant Gabriel didn’t have to pay quite as much attention to his glamour as he and Coyote slipped into the stables. The last time he’d used pagan magic had been when he’d been separated, and he hadn’t exactly done a lot as Loki except for shifting his physical appearance and some parlor tricks. Asgard wasn’t really big on magic, after all.

“I thought the horses would be a little bigger,” Coyote said, head twisting as he examined the building.

“They’re the same size as us,” Gabriel answered distractedly, making a beeline for where he could sense Sleipnir. “It’s the Jotuns who’re different sizes.”

Coyote muttered something else that Gabriel didn’t catch, too distracted by the sight of  _Sleipnir_.

Unlike Fenris and Jormungandr, Sleipnir had the chance of growing, so he looked a little larger than he had last time Gabriel had seen him. He let his glamour drop as he stopped in front of the gate, breath coming shakily. “Hey,” he breathed.

Sleipnir didn’t immediately react, staring at Gabriel with one brown eye. Then, snuffling slightly, he leaned over the wooden gate separating them, drawing closer to Gabriel.

“Sleipnir.” Gabriel touched Sleipnir carefully, hands trembling as he stroked down his son’s nose. “Hey,” he said again, managing a wobbly smile. “What do you say we get out of here?”

“As a horse?” Coyote asked from behind Gabriel, effectively shattering the moment. “An eight-legged horse is going to be a little noticeable.”

Sleipnir snorted, butting Gabriel gently to remind him to open the gate. Once he stepped out, his form shifted to that of a lanky teenager, one noticeably older than Fenris and Jormungandr. “A horse is not my only form,” he said, flashing a mischievous grin in Coyote’s direction. It shifted to a rather wobbly looking smile when he looked back at Gabriel. “Is it…really you?”

Gabriel inhaled, nodding jerkily, not trusting his voice.

“I had thought…” Sleipnir took a hesitant step forward, worrying his lower lip.

Unable to stand the hesitant – almost  _scared_  – look on Sleipnir’s face, Gabriel closed the remaining distance between them to hug him tightly, relieved when Sleipnir instantly returned the gesture with what sounded like a choked sob.

They stayed like that for a long moment, and Gabriel wasn’t sure how much longer it would have lasted if it wasn’t for Coyote coughing.

“This is really touching and all, but getting caught here wouldn’t be a good thing,” Coyote said pointedly. “You can do all the hugging once we’re out of here.”

Sleipnir’s hands tightened where they were clutching at Gabriel. “They told me you were  _dead_.”

“Their mistake,” Gabriel said, smoothing a hand over Sleipnir’s hair. “But Coyote’s right. We should be out of here as soon as possible.”

“How?” Sleipnir seemed reluctant to step away, only moving enough to look up at Gabriel. One hand dropped down to tangle with Gabriel’s, and Gabriel squeezed it reassuringly.

“Bust out?” Coyote suggested.

“I was thinking more…” Gabriel trailed off as he noticed the bird flutter down to land on the fence just outside the stables. “Oh, shit.”

As one, Sleipnir and Coyote turned to look.

“That’s a raven,” Coyote said.

“Huginn,” Sleipnir said, sounding panicked.

“New plan,” Gabriel announced, making up his mind quickly. “Run like hell.”

“I got this.” Coyote was moving before he even finished talking, changing mid-leap into an identical black bird before throwing himself at Huginn. Huginn cawed sharply, taking off in the same second. Coyote chased him up over the roof of the stables and out of sight.

“Great,” Gabriel said. “He’ll probably get halfway across the city in about a second like that.”

…Maybe that hadn’t been the best thing to say, with Sleipnir already clutching his hand in a death grip.

“When Huginn tells Frigg, she will kill you,” Sleipnir said, voice high in panic.

“She can try, but it won’t stick.” A second later he realized that had been another bad decision when Sleipnir let out a panicked whine. “Hey, it’ll be fine. We just have to get Coyote and we can get out of here, okay?”

It would be a little more complicated than that, but Gabriel was going to try and avoid giving Sleipnir anymore heart attacks.

“But  _Frigg_ —

“Doesn’t quite know what she’s dealing with. I can dodge them if we have to. It won’t be pretty, but they won’t hurt you.”

“I’m concerned about  _you_ ,” Sleipnir protested.

“They won’t hurt me either,” Gabriel reassured him. “Let’s go.”

Coyote and Huginn were two black specks in the sky, and they weren’t exactly being subtle, which at least meant everyone’s attention was on the sky and not on the two of them emerging from the stables. Sleipnir didn’t ease his grip on Gabriel’s hand, and he kept up with Gabriel’s fast pace so easily Gabriel wondered if he was trying to stop himself from breaking into a run.

Gabriel hadn’t forgotten the glamour, but his mind was half on Sleipnir and half on figuring how to get Coyote close enough that he could fly them all out without attracting attention, and magic only worked perfectly if the caster was focusing on nothing else, so it really shouldn’t have been a surprise when someone shouted out.

“ _Sleipnir_!”

“Fuck,” Gabriel sighed, glancing over his shoulder to the offending god. “Let’s pick up the pace.”

The shout had caught the attention of other gods, though.

He could use his Grace to hide them more effectively than pagan magic, but that would really tip his hand if none of these gods had realized that he wasn’t actually one of them staging a jailbreak. But compared to winding his way through the streets on foot and trying to catch up to two birds flying in the air…using Grace might be more effective.

Coyote would be pissed if he snatched him out of the air like that, though.

But it would also mean them getting out of Asgard more quickly with a lower chance of getting caught. And Gabriel was all for  _not getting caught_.

“Damn you, Laufeyson!” a god shouted after him, though when Gabriel looked the god was looking at Sleipnir. “And  _you_ —”

“If you’re going to insult someone, at least do it right!” Gabriel snapped back, interrupting whatever insult was about to be aimed at Sleipnir. “It’s Laufey _jar_ son!” To Sleipnir, “Hold on.”

Without any further warning, he took off, holding Sleipnir close. The alarmed cries of the gods didn’t even register on his radar – he was too focused on getting to Coyote and grabbing him.

When Gabriel dropped back into physical space, he took a second to snatch Coyote, who was very emphatically  _displeased_  with being interrupted so rudely, his talons gouging into Gabriel’s hands. He disappeared with another flick of his wings, this time reversing course and heading straight for the Bifrost.

The benefit of flying and not dealing with the rules of pagan teleportation was that it was a lot faster than anything pagans were accustomed to dealing with, so absolutely none of the guards noticed when he shot right past them and back onto the branches of Yggdrasil. From there it was a straight path back down to Midgard, though it was a little more difficult with an unruly and very disgruntled passenger in his hands.

Landing on Earth itself was rather jarring, Gabriel stumbling and letting Coyote go with a hiss, his hands healing a second later. Sleipnir didn’t let go of where he had ended up clinging to Gabriel’s waist, trembling violently.

“ _Don’t do that again_!” Coyote spit out the moment he shifted back.

“I had to get us out of there,” Gabriel fired back, “and you were too busy high-tailing it after Huginn to hear me. You couldn’t have stayed calm about ravens for three seconds?”

“Would you have preferred that he attack you?”

“They’re  _spies_ , not weapons. You just made it more difficult.”

Coyote rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. “Whatever. We got your kid, right?”

“Yeah,” Gabriel breathed, relaxing slightly. He turned, wrapping an arm around Sleipnir’s trembling form. “We’re good.”

“What was that?” Sleipnir whispered, not loosening his grip in the slightest.

“My usual method of getting places,” Gabriel answered, rubbing over Sleipnir’s back. “Think you can hang on a little more until I get us to the bunker? Your brothers are there.”

“They are?” Sleipnir stood straight up, eyes wide. “For how long? Where?”

“Not that long. I’ve been orchestrating a jailbreak with his help.” Gabriel nodded over to a visibly disgruntled Coyote, who seemed only slightly mollified at Gabriel’s admission. “You want to see them?”

Sleipnir nodded. “ _Yes_. Of course.”

Gabriel glanced at Coyote, eyebrows raised inquiringly. “You mind if I…?”

Heaving a put-on sigh, Coyote shuffled closer. “Fine. But be gentle.”

“I usually am.”

And Gabriel was  _very_  gentle when he whisked them off to the bunker, landing them in the empty library. He was pretty sure even Clint wouldn’t have anything to complain about.

“Are we the only ones here?” Sleipnir looked around at the books and (probably ornamental) swords and other artifacts.

“Nah, it’s not my bunker.” Gabriel was pretty sure they were all in the kitchen. “It belongs to some hunters, but they won’t hurt you.”

“If you’re nice,” Coyote muttered. Gabriel gave him a sharp, pointed look.

“They  _won’t_  hurt you,” Gabriel repeated, dropping his eyes to Sleipnir. “I mean it. They’re a hell of a lot more trustworthy than most other hunters.”

“Very well,” Sleipnir said, nodding. He pulled away from Gabriel, once again holding onto Gabriel’s hand. “Where are they?”

“Follow me.” Gabriel tugged him along, leading him through the bunker and into the kitchen.

Jormungandr and Fenris were both in human form at the table, concentrating on what looked like had previously been a large pizza. Rhodey looked faintly amazed at one end of the table, while Dean and Sam both had resigned looks on their faces; Dean was even rooting through the fridge. James and Natasha both seemed too amused for their own good, used to large appetites given Steve and Loki.

“I bring presents,” Gabriel announced in the Allspeak, getting their attention.

Fenris was the first to react. “ _Sleipnir!_ ” He jumped out of his chair, running straight into Sleipnir to crush him into a hug.

Jormungandr was only a second slower, his slightly longer arms managing to cover both his brothers.

Gabriel would have stepped back to make more room, but Sleipnir pulled him closer, glancing at him pleadingly before letting go of his hand to hug the others, so he stayed, moving his hand to rest it on Sleipnir’s shoulder.

“Huh,” Dean said. “I was expecting more arms or something.”

Sleipnir glanced down at himself, or what he could manage to see through the tangle of his brother’s arms.

“You’ve got it right,” Gabriel told him.

“I wasn’t certain for a second,” Sleipnir admitted sheepishly.

“Dean just likes to think he’s funny,” Sam said.

“I  _am_  funny.”

“I’m sorry,” Rhodey said, “but that just sounds like Tony here.”

Gabriel affected a hurt expression. “Excuse you, I am hilarious.”

“So you think.”

Sleipnir looked back at Gabriel, frowning. “Tony?”

“Right, uh…” Gabriel sighed, ruffling Sleipnir’s hair. “I’ve got something to say.”

“ _He’s an angel,_ ” Fenris said before Gabriel could, voice muffled where his head was tucked into Sleipnir’s chest. “ _But it’s all right because he’s still Dad._ ”

Sleipnir’s frown deepened, and he pulled back so that the hug broke apart. “ _When did that happen?_ ”

“I’ve always been one,” Gabriel said, managing to keep his tone even. “But I  _was_  Loki. None of that was a lie.”

“ _That’s how you got us out so quickly,_ ” Sleipnir realized. “ _And…but…you weren’t dead?_ ”

“ _Dead?_ ” Fenris and Jormungandr said at the same time, both looking at Gabriel in alarm.

“Well, obviously I’m not dead,” Gabriel replied, trying to sound reassuring.

“ _That_  conversation escalated quickly,” Rhodey said in surprise. Natasha and James must have slipped out when Gabriel wasn’t paying attention, because the kitchen was much emptier than it had been a moment ago and Sam was already in the middle of “discreetly” tugging Dean out the door.

“ _They_   ** _told_** _me you were dead!_ ” Sleipnir insisted, voice cracking. “ _That you wouldn’t come back._ ”

“Hey.” Gabriel took Sleipnir’s hand, pressing it to his chest. “My heart’s still beating, isn’t it? And I’m breathing? I’m alive. I  _promise_  you that I’m alive.”

“Now, anyway,” Coyote muttered under his breath.

Gabriel shot him another pointed glare, mentally willing him to get the message that he wasn’t helping. Coyote just shot him a blase look. “I’m alive,” he repeated, returning his attention to his kids.

“I think I would’ve noticed if I were hanging out with a dead guy,” Rhodey said, trying to sound reassuring.

Fenris was giving him an accusatory look. “ _He said you were alive **now**_ ,” he said. “ _What’s that supposed to mean?_ ”

“So you understood that?” Of course Fenris had started picking up some modern English. Gabriel sighed, shoulders slumping. “I…there may have been a  _little_  incident some time ago. But it’s sorted out now.”

This didn’t seem to reassure Fenris at all. “ _How is being **dead**  ’ **little** ’?_”

“I’m not dead anymore?”

“Oh my God,” Rhodey muttered. “You’re  _hopeless_.”

“It’s not like it’s happened to you,” Gabriel said, glancing at him.

“ _But you’re supposed to stay dead if you’re dead,_ ” Jormungandr said. “ _Unless you’re a talking head._ ”

Gabriel did distantly remember complaining about that little incident. “Sometimes you don’t. There are quite a few people around here that can attest otherwise. I just got really lucky.”

“ _Odin saved Mimir_ ,” Jormungandr said. “ _Who helped you?_ ”

“My Dad,” Gabriel said, and then realized they would probably think of the wrong person. “Not Farbauti, my  _angel_ dad. He doesn’t exactly have a lot of limits when it comes to life and death.” Though that didn’t mean Death wasn’t upset about Him upsetting the scales.

With a sigh, Gabriel realized he was going to have to have this exact conversation with Hel, who doubtlessly had sensed his passing but hadn’t sensed his resurrection. “I’m not dying anytime soon again.”

“I will kick your ass if that happens,” Rhodey said cheerfully. “Even if I break my foot.”

That startled a laugh out of Sleipnir, which made the other two look at him curiously.

“ _What, what did he say?_ ”

“ _He said he would kick Dad’s ass if it happens,_ ” Sleipnir said, grinning. “ _Even if it breaks his foot._ ”

“ _But it isn’t that hard,_ ” Fenris said, squinting at Gabriel.

“If I don’t pay attention, it is,” Gabriel said, grinning wryly. He winked at him. “You should be good, though, if you’re careful.”

“ _I don’t want to kick you,_ ” Fenris said plaintively.

“ _Wait until you get older,_ ” Coyote told him, his Norse heavily accented but understandable. “ _That will change._ ”

“It looks like we’re good,” Rhodey said. “I don’t see anyone on the verge of tears anymore, so I’m gonna go ahead and ask why your kid looks like he’s got half a suit on.”

Sleipnir did look like all he was missing was the jacket, but he still looked puzzled. “Me?”

“Yeah, you,” Gabriel said. “You’re a couple centuries out of date, but it’s not any worse than your brothers.”

“ _Hey_ ,” Fenris said, sounding offended. “ _My clothes are fine._ ”

“And from the fifteenth century,” Gabriel reminded him. “Fashion’s changed a lot since then.”

“ _But your pants look so uncomfortable,_ ” Fenris complained. “ _How can you move in them?_ ”

“Because they’re expensive and more flexible than they look. Now,  _Coyote’s_  are cheap.”

“I’m sorry, we can’t all be rich assholes,” Coyote protested, miffed.

“We’ve got other pants that you can wear,” Gabriel continued, ignoring Coyote. “Get you used to modern fashion. I think you’ll like the jackets.”

“ _What’s on your shirt?_ ” Jormungandr asked.  _”I meant to ask earlier._ ”

“A really sweet rock band.” Gabriel tugged his shirt down to straighten the creases. “Rock is also a little after you guys, though. It’s music.”

“I’m pretty sure you’ve just got a closet full of identical AC/DC shirts,” Rhodey said. “You’re always wearing those or suits.”

“Suits mean  _business_.” And Gabriel did like looking snazzy when the occasion called for it.

“It’s hard to call it ‘business’ when you don’t tie your tie properly and your jacket’s not buttoned up.”

“I don’t remember hiring you to be my fashion critic.”

“You didn’t hire me to be _anything_.”

“Okay, hold up,” Coyote said. “Before this conversation gets any farther, you promised me you’d tell me what you made.”

Gabriel abruptly shifted gears. “Did I?”

“Yes. You did.” Coyote gave him an unimpressed looks. “For what you just put me through – both in the freaking ocean  _and_  with jerking me out of the sky like that – you owe me.” His tone changed. “Come on…it can’t be  _that_  bad.”

Gabriel considered him, head tilted. Finally, “Before I say anything, let me preface this by saying that I didn’t know what I was doing.”

Coyote raised his eyebrows. “Oh? This should be good. What monstrosity are you responsible for in Australia?”

“Oh my God, this explains so much about Australia,” Rhodey said, eyes wide.

“Shut up.” Gabriel shot Rhodey a glare. “My Dad’s had his share of weird fuck-ups. You didn’t see some of the things that ended up going extinct.”

“But I can poke fun at  _you_.”

“Two species?” Coyote asked before Gabriel could retort. “You owe me.”

“Fine.” His kids looked just as eager to find out what he had made. “The platypus and the potoo. That’s all you’re getting from me.”

Rhodey was the first to react. “You mean that weird mammal that lays eggs is because of  _you_?”

“What the hell is a potoo?” Coyote said at the same time.

“I thought it was cool,” Gabriel grumbled. “I mean, eggs! And beaks! What’s not to like?”

“Sure thing,” Rhodey said, smirking.

“A potoo?” Coyote asked again. “Do you mean potato?”

“I mean potoo,” Gabriel said dryly. “It’s a bird.”

“It’s a weird-ass bird!” Dean hollered outside the room, evidently eavesdropping.

“Dean!” Sam hissed a second later.

“I gotta look this up,” Rhodey said, pulling out his phone. Coyote sidled over to him to look over his shoulder. A minute later, both of them were looking up at Gabriel with identical expressions of glee.

“Does the big mouth stand for something?” Coyote asked, grinning broadly.

“So it can eat!” Things had been a lot bigger in the past. “I’ll have you know that bird’s a master of camouflage.”

“Somehow I am not surprised,” Rhodey said dryly, pulling the phone out of Coyote’s reach before he could get more pictures.

“And you made  _more_?” Coyote still had an unholy grin on his face.

“I’m not telling you anything else.”

“No, wait, you said everything you made got dumped into Australia. Does this mean that I can just point to an animal and you’ll have made it?”

“All of my stuff ending up in Australia doesn’t equal  _everything_  there being because of me.” It just meant there was a higher likelihood of it having been because of him.

“What about cassowaries?” Rhodey was still grinning widely.

“I’m not answering that.”

“The emus sound like your thing,” Rhodey continued. “I mean, picking a fight and then actually winning?”

“Nope.” Gabriel popped the “p,” shaking his head. “That’s all you’re getting from me.”

Rhodey looked at him for a moment longer before deciding, “I’m asking Gadreel.”

The worrying part was, Gadreel would probably know at least  _some_  of what Gabriel had made. There had been a lot of gossiping (for angels, anyway) when some of Gabriel’s wackier creations had been developed.

Still… “What makes you think he’ll know?”

“Animals were around way before humans,” Rhodey pointed out, snorting. “He’ll have heard of  _some_  of them.”

“Who’s Gadreel?” Coyote asked.

“His brother,” Rhodey answered. “He’s been hanging around in our universe.”

Coyote snorted. “More brothers?”

“You’re forgetting I’m an angel, too,” Gabriel retorted. “Even  _I_ can’t put a number to how many siblings I have.” He probably hadn’t even met all of them.

“‘More’ brothers?” Rhodey looked at Gabriel with raised eyebrows. “He’s already met some of your siblings?”

“You can’t go ten feet without running into an angel nowadays,” Coyote informed him. “But I was talking about the gods.”

Rhodey looked puzzled. “Like Odin?”

“Hell no.” Coyote looked offended that Rhodey would even imply he’d met the lord of Asgard.

“ ** _I’ve_** _met dad’s other brothers,_ ” Sleipnir said.

Fenris looked disgruntled. “ _I haven’t. When did this happen?_ ”

“Not often,” Gabriel said. “You probably just weren’t there when I did.”

“Back up.” Rhodey held up a hand. “Which brothers are you referring to? ’Cause I swear, your family gets bigger every time you mention it.”

“Brothers on the frost giant side of things,” Gabriel said. “Y’know, as Loki. Laufey had more than just one kid.” He gave the three boys a grin. “You guys have been around the bunker, right? I bet you could show Sleipnir a couple cool places you found.”

None of them looked fooled, but Fenris led the way out. Gabriel could tell that Sam and Dean were still there, but he didn’t mind quite as much if they overheard.

“Is this going to be the kind of conversation we need privacy for?” Coyote had watched them go with raised eyebrows.

“It’s the kind of conversation where I’d like to talk to Rhodey privately,” Gabriel replied. Coyote gave him a dirty look. “Oh, come on, it’s nothing you don’t already know.” Mostly. He’d been extraordinarily lucky so far with Coyote’s blasé acceptance of his angelic status, and he didn’t want to know if this would change things. “I’m sure you’ve got other things to be doing.”

“All right, fine,” Coyote said in a dramatic huff, before vanishing on the spot. Gabriel was too used to him to be surprised by the abrupt disappearance.

“Brothers a sore subject, huh?” Rhodey sounded like he thought he already knew the answer to that question.

“A tricky one, more like.” Gabriel sat down at the table. “Go ahead. I got rid of everyone else, you might as well ask.”

“How many?”

“Just the two,” Gabriel said. “Helblindi and Býlestr. Not sure who was the oldest, to be honest.”

“How does that work?” Rhodey asked. “With you being Gabriel, too. Was it like how you ended up as Tony?”

“Oh, no. This was on purpose, for one.” Gabriel leaned back in his chair. “I was really only her kid in that I was Loki. And that…” He exhaled, remembering that cold night. “That’s another story in itself.”

“The way you always said it before was like you’d just demoted yourself,” Rhodey said. “Is that…not what happened?”

Gabriel was pretty sure that Dean and Sam weren’t breathing, and Natasha and James weren’t much better off from where they had joined the brothers.

“A demotion was involved,” Gabriel said finally. “There was a major downsize in what I could do and the type of magic available to me. But  _how_  it happened… I didn’t have a vessel back then.” This wasn’t something he regretted, but he couldn’t help but wonder how this world’s Loki would have turned out.

The twin sharp inhales from Sam and Dean were loud enough that Gabriel would have been able to hear it even without angelic senses.

“I remember it being cold,” Gabriel continued quietly. “And dark. It sounds really cliche, but it was. And there – just like that – I saw him. He was just a Jotun at that point – hadn’t even seen Asgard. And he was dying. So I…I made an offer. If he hadn’t accepted, I would’ve done something else, but he did. And I had my in.” He shrugged, smiling self-deprecatingly. “Everything after that was all me.”

After a brief tussle, Dean stumbled in, hindered by the fact that Sam was clinging to his leg. “You possessed a  _god_?” he accused. “That suit of yours wasn’t even human?”

Gabriel spread his arms. “How else would I have stayed out of Heaven’s sight for so long? It was enough to let me hide my Grace well enough that not even Odin ever guessed.” He was pretty sure Odin never did; or at least he hoped, but it wouldn’t make a difference now. “I might’ve managed otherwise, but luckily I didn’t have to.”

“I thought they were called frost  _giants_ ,” Sam said from the floor. “Your vessel was kind of small.”

“Compared to  _you_ , maybe, sasquatch.” Gabriel gave Sam a pointed look, deliberately measuring him out with his hands. “Besides, he was a little smaller than average. And there are plenty who are just as short – or a lot bigger. It varies.” Back then that vessel had been pretty tall, compared to most humans.

“So Laufey didn’t know,” Rhodey said.

“No.” Like he would have told anyone, least of all his vessel’s mother. That would have earned him a one-way ticket to nowhere good. “As Loki…I wandered a lot. I didn’t see Laufey or either of my brothers a lot. And there were plenty who took a disliking to me once I set up with Asgard.”

“How shocking,” Dean deadpanned, folding his arms across his chest.

“Plenty of  _Jötnar,_ ” Gabriel clarified. “Mostly just because of Asgard’s admittedly deserved reputation. But yeah, pointing out when someone fucked up or lying to them didn’t make me a fan favorite in Asgard either.” Not that he’d particularly wanted to be friends with any of them, but being so close to Odin had necessitated (and helped to create) a sort of tenuous companionship with most of Asgard.

“Which is a completely different ballgame from our Loki,” Rhodey mused.

“It’s a different universe. I’d be surprised if there was anything beyond superficial similarities.”

“How many pagans have you got there?” Dean asked, eyebrows raised.

“Just the Norse pantheon, though they’re not actually on Earth. It’s a hell of a lot quieter than this place.”

“Especially now that Doom’s gone,” Rhodey agreed.

Dean furrowed his brow. “Wait, Doom with the mask? I thought that guy was like a cockroach - you can’t get rid of him.”

“A cockroach?” Gabriel tilted his head, remembering what the Trickster had thought of Doom. “Huh…that would have been a good fit, too…but less ostentatious.”

“What did you do?” Sam, at this point, had picked himself up from the floor.

“He turned him into a statue and stuck him in the middle of Times Square,” Natasha answered from behind him.

“With a dunce cap on his head,” James added.

“There were  _so_  many calls from Latveria,” Rhodey groaned. “And no answers because  _you_ ”—he gestured at Gabriel—“were in four pieces.”

Dean glanced at Sam, who looked just as confused as he did. “Do you mean physically in four pieces? Because that doesn’t really stop angels.”

“It’s a long story,” Gabriel said, “which they can tell you while I head out to see Hel.”

“No rescue mission?” James tilted his head.

Gabriel snorted, waving a hand. “She’s goddess of the dead and queen of an entire realm. If anyone’s doing any rescuing, it’s her. Or more like killing, really.”

“This going to be easy, then?” Rhodey asked.

“Easy in the sense that I don’t have to break into anything, buuuuut…” Gabriel sighed, glancing to where he could sense his kids. “She’s older than they are by now. Which makes things a little more difficult.”

Rhodey reached out to squeeze Gabriel’s shoulder. “Adults can be funny like that, yeah. It should be fine.”

Gabriel looked at his feet. “We’ll see.”

If Coyote had thought the ocean was bad, he wasn’t going to like the realm of the dead.

* * *

**Sleipnir in human form**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _The potoos! The **potoos**. Seriously, have you SEEN them? Of course Gabriel had a hand in their design! xD He's not revealing anything else, so for now all they know is that he designed the platypus and the potoo. Although there's some other animals in Australia that have a similar claim to fame..._   
>  _On an unrelated note, isn't Alatar's picture just **gorgeous**?_
> 
> (〃￣ω￣〃ゞ  
> On another note, though, this is an actual conversation that took place when I wrote the bit about cassowaries and inukagome copied the word to look them up:  
> me: they're a kind of bird that has a direct link back to their dinosaur ancestors  
> inukagome: they don't look that bad  
> me: they're six feet tall  
> inukagome: I retract my previous statement
> 
> As for Sleipnir (I forgot the first 'i', but sshhhhh) he's a lot darker than his siblings because he's the only one who's not a fullblooded Jötun. It's mostly my personal headcanon that Jötnar are lighter and Æsir are darker (I mean, just look at their respective environments and tell me who's more likely to have darker skin) but I'm the artist, so I have license to do what I want :)  
> (he's also meant to have a little braid on the side, too, but I'm not sure how well it came out. This is why we shade, people).


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? Another chapter! And more than that - I have another song for you guys :) 
> 
> Hel's song is _Danse Macabre ___(in G minor) by Camille Saint-Saëns! Dramatic and perfectly suitable for a queen. You could look up the original if you want (it's on YouTube), but The Oh Hellos have a pretty good cover of it, if you'd like a more modern version.
> 
> (I really feel like I should give the rest of the kids songs, but I haven't come across anything that fits...yet)
> 
> (Though I did make a Loki playlist once if any of you are interested and have Spotify...)
> 
> _Also, as a general warning, this chapter involves Gabriel/Tony's PTSD coming into play. But I guess you guys knew that already from the general tag on the fic?_

Gabriel had rarely traveled  _down_  Yggdrasil before, not really wanting to talk with the Norns or have anything to do with Nidhogg either. The realms in the roots of the tree weren’t exactly places that gods  _wanted_  to visit. There was a reason that the realm for the dead was in the roots.

And though Gabriel knew how to get to Helheim, he really didn’t want to do it. Not with what he knew of Niflheim.

“We just going to stand here or are we going in?” Coyote asked impatiently several minutes later, shuffling behind Gabriel.

Pulling in a shaky breath, Gabriel turned his back to the icy gateway that would let them into the cold darkness of Niflheim. “Several things before we do. If something goes wrong, don’t touch me. It might be better if we have some distance between us as well.”

“You do know that you’re my guide, right? How much distance are we talking here?”

Gabriel closed his eyes, turning away. “I…don’t know. At your own discretion.”

Coyote laughed nervously. “You’re worrying me here, Loki.”

“It might be nothing. Just…a precaution.” Gabriel managed a weak smile. “Come on.”

There was no other realm that was as cold or dark as Niflheim, and the ever-present fog in that realm surrounded them immediately after they stepped through the gate.

Gabriel’s first thought was that it wasn’t  _that_  bad. He could totally manage it if he just kept himself warm.

His second – which came a minute later – was that he was wrong. It was exactly that bad.

Keeping himself  _warm_  wasn’t the issue, since cold didn’t really have an effect on his body. But that was regular cold. The cold of Niflheim, that unnatural cold from the beginnings of the universe, didn’t care about his paltry tricks. It sank straight into his Grace, sapping the heat as fast as he could make it.

Perhaps the only saving grace was that it was  _dark_.

The Cage hadn’t been dark, not with the lights of their true forms.

“Fuck, it’s cold,” Coyote hissed another minute later, wrapping his arms around himself. “You should’ve said. I could’ve packed something else.”

Gabriel should have said something, but all he could really manage was a strained smile that was probably more of a grimace. He focused on putting one foot in front of the other, shoulders drawing down in an effort to make himself smaller.

_If he made himself smaller, maybe Lucifer couldn’t reach him._

“Loki?” Coyote asked warily.

He should say something now – tell Coyote it was all right – but all he managed after opening his mouth was a strangled gasp. Snapping his teeth together, Gabriel shook his head, walking faster.

They had to get to the river and that bridge. It was possible that Helheim wasn’t as cold, though he doubted it, since all that separated it from the rest of Niflheim was a paltry wall.

This had been such a bad idea.

“If I had a fire,” Coyote muttered, breathing onto his hands. “Or gloves. Let’s go with gloves.”

_Even Michael was cold._

Gabriel shook his head again, focusing on the feel of the ground beneath his feet. There hadn’t  _been_  a ground in the Cage. He hadn’t had a physical body in the Cage.

It was different.

“Is the glowing thing normal?” Coyote asked a minute later.

Glowing?

Gabriel looked, but there wasn’t anything glowing around them in the dark fog. Then he realized that there was a light, but it was coming from him.

He still wasn’t warm.

“Forget the fire,” Coyote said. “You’re giving off enough heat for five bonfires.” He abruptly stepped closer to Gabriel, almost touching—

Gabriel had him on his back faster than he could blink, his hand fisted in Coyote’s shirt and his sword in the other.

“Dude!” Coyote sounded scandalized, and a little afraid. “It’s just me!”

When Gabriel didn’t immediately react, Coyote drew in a pained breath. “You’re kind of burning me there.”

Blinking, Gabriel realized who he had under him, jerking back a second later. His legs betrayed him, collapsing underneath him as he struggled to stand. “S-sorry,” he managed, voice a rasp. He tried again, but his voice failed entirely.

Propping himself up on his elbows, Coyote stared at Gabriel warily, his shirt smoking slightly where Gabriel had touched it. “Is this what you meant by not touching you?”

He realized he still had his sword out , and he managed to tuck it away without dropping it.

“You could’ve said you’d go nonverbal,” Coyote grumbled, getting to his feet with an ease Gabriel envied. He seemed to contemplate giving Gabriel a hand, wisely reconsidering it a moment later.

Closing his eyes, Gabriel focused on his breathing and the sensation of his clothes on his skin. His heart was loud in his ears, but it was  _there_.

_There was nothing but the light and the cold, so devastating that it **burned** , the only sound that of his voice._

Coyote was there, and he felt different from what Gabriel remembered in the Cage. He wasn’t  _in_  the Cage.

With a few more breaths, Gabriel managed to get his legs working again, and he stood as well. He wobbled slightly before steadying, not meeting Coyote’s eyes.

There was no judgment in Coyote’s tone when he spoke. “We good to go?”

Pressing his hand to his stomach in an effort to block the phantom pain of the old wound, Gabriel nodded once, pulling in a pained breath. He forced himself to let his hand drop, not needing Coyote to look at him even more strangely than he already was.

Gabriel started walking again, keeping careful count of his breaths in an effort to keep himself present and  _aware_. He couldn’t afford another mishap like that, since next time he might actually kill Coyote.

But it was so cold, and he wasn’t entirely sure how much longer it would be until they reached the gates. He didn’t know how much longer he could stand it like this.

A while later, Coyote said quietly, “This is where the dead go, right? Would those creepy guys be residents?”

Forcing himself to focus, Gabriel saw what Coyote had – dozens of the dead watching them from the sidelines, weapons at their side. Hel had noticed them, then.

For better or for worse, Gabriel was definitely not turning back now.

“This is her welcoming committee, huh?” Coyote side-eyed a man who only stared back blankly. “Could do with some cheering up.”

The dead didn’t seem to appreciate the insinuation. A few scowled at Coyote, but none spoke to them.

Gabriel wondered if this was Hel’s way of trying to give him the silent treatment. If she thought that it might end in a conversation at the end of this, she’d be rather disappointed. He didn’t think he could manage anything comprehensible right now.

“You are so  _gloomy_  when you’re quiet,” Coyote informed him sourly.

Gabriel briefly considered shooting him a glare, but that would take his focus off his feet, and he wasn’t entirely sure that he could keep his balance if he lost it. In any case, he could see the bridge now, and the sounds of the frothing river it traversed were a blessed distraction.

“Ooh.” Coyote noticeably brightened. “Is that the end? Are we almost there? Is it going to be warm?”

That was doubtful, but Gabriel didn’t voice his misgivings.

The dead weren’t lined across the bridge, but there were far more of them on the other side. They looked as though they’d been interrupted in the middle of something; he couldn’t guess what, given the motley collection of spirits and the fact that they were all standing perfectly still. At least they were more likely to be calm than the various (warrior) inhabitants of Valhalla. The looks he and Coyote were getting weren’t necessarily unfriendly, but that was probably because they could tell he and Coyote were Hel’s visitors.

He wasn’t sure if the dead of Helheim liked his daughter, but they sure as, well,  _hell_  respected her.

The bridge thankfully didn’t sway under them as they crossed it, though Gabriel couldn’t repress the reflexive flinch as the river sprayed him with water. The dead did nothing but watch as they stepped onto solid ground again, but there was a clear path through the crowd to the gate.

Most travelers to Helheim tended to skip the gate entirely for some reason, but that wouldn’t be necessary here.

The gate was closed when they reached it, though the being guarding it didn’t give off any malevolent intentions. Gabriel stopped in front of them, restraining the instinctive urge to wrap his arms around himself; he wasn’t able to hide the shivers.

The being inclined their head. “You may pass, Loki, and your companion as well.”

Gabriel didn’t answer beyond inclining his head, though he heard Coyote manage a rather high-pitched “Thanks.”

Then they were inside Helheim. There was literally no change in their surroundings except that now they had the wall  _behind_  them.

“I don’t suppose your kid has a fire?” Coyote asked hopefully. “Or warm drinks?” He stayed a careful distance away from Gabriel.

It was…possible. Though Gabriel wasn’t willing to bet on it. It mostly depended on Hel’s mood, and considering the chances of her being happy to see him…

Yeah, he wouldn’t put any money on that.

“The places I let you drag me,” Coyote muttered, evidently reading Gabriel’s thoughts on his face. “This is worse than the ocean.”

The ocean was so much warmer than this place.

“How much further do you think it is?” Coyote asked after a moment, rubbing his arms.

Stopping, Gabriel looked through the fog, ignoring the shades and wisps of the dead that clung to the misty tendrils. He couldn’t see the palace, but it was there on the edge of his senses. If he was just able to  _focus_ …

_He wished he could withdraw into himself, blot out some of the pain, but Lucifer kept pulling him **back** —_

The jolt of pain through his knees jerked Gabriel back to himself with a gasp. He’d lost control of himself and awareness of his self, his Grace leaking through his control.

“Glowing again,” Coyote said several dozen feet away. “But less brightly now.”

Curling into a ball, Gabriel pressed his face to the ground, focusing on breathing.

He couldn’t  _stay_  here. The faster he made it to Hel, the faster he could get out of here.

It was a minute before he managed to get to his feet, and by then Gabriel really didn’t care about how the dead saw him. He wrapped his arms around himself and hunched his shoulders down before starting to walk.

After several minutes of shivering, Coyote said quietly, “Is this cold thing an angel thing or a you thing?”

Angels weren’t without their weaknesses, but this –  _this_  wasn’t one of them. Not usually.

He wondered if Samael would have this problem, then hoped ne wouldn’t.

“Oh, right,” Coyote continued. “Nonverbal.”

Gabriel tucked his chin down, briefly clenching his eyes shut. It wasn’t like he  _couldn’t_  speak, but he’d rather not hear the results.

Coyote fell silent again, keeping pace with Gabriel several feet behind him. Occasionally he’d mutter a curse or blow on his hands, but otherwise he kept to himself.

They should have made it to the palace now given how long they had been walking. That they hadn’t…Hel must be upset.

And Gabriel would literally be unable to speak.

“ _What’s a Messenger without a voice?_ ” 

There was a low whine in the vicinity, and he wondered what it was before suddenly realizing it was  _him_  and cutting it off with a ragged inhale.

“Come on, Loki,” Coyote said in a low, reassuring tone. “Not that much further.”

He wondered if Coyote possibly realized what it was that was happening, but it was more likely that he was just trying to comfort a friend.

The worst part was that while Coyote was trying to comfort him, he couldn’t actually accept it since he knew it was just…a lie…

…The palace was right in front of them.

Gabriel resisted the urge to fall to his knees in relief, locking them so that wouldn’t happen.

“Well,” Coyote said after a pause. “Speak of the devil.”

That kind of comment would have earned him a laugh any other day, but all Gabriel could manage was a weak snort.

Coyote stepped in front of Gabriel, indicating the palace with a jerk of his head. “Come on. It’s right there.”

Staring at the palace for a long moment, Gabriel took a slow breath, then squared his shoulders as best as he could given his arms were still wrapped around himself. He moved forwards, inhaling through his teeth as he entered the building.

It was, to his relief, a little warmer inside. Only a little, but enough to be obvious as soon as they stepped through the doors.

“Oh my stars, I think I can feel my fingers.” Coyote looked down at his feet. “And my toes.”

The door behind them swung shut with a final blast of utter cold.

_Sometimes he thought he could feel warmth – something like Michael’s fire – but it vanished so quickly it might only have been a dream._

Coyote’s energy brushed against his, snapping him back to reality. Gabriel blinked, taking into account the walls and visible ground, the lack of fog, and the absence of the whispers of the dead that he hadn’t even noticed.

“Where to?” Coyote glanced at him questioningly.

In lieu of an answer, Gabriel continued walking, moving through the halls and to the center of the palace.

He was so close, but he still wasn’t prepared to stumble across the throne room almost immediately. Even after all this, part of him hadn’t imagined that he could actually see Hel again – for the first time in centuries. She was older than her siblings, with a grace to her bearing that hadn’t been there last time. Of course, the throne-like chair she was sitting in helped that impression along.

“You’re late,” was the first thing she said.

Gabriel wanted to laugh, but his voice wouldn’t cooperate. He staggered forward, his legs finally giving out on him as he hit the ground on his knees.

There were a lot of things he’d wanted to say to Hel, but none of them involved him too shaky to stand and unable to speak, staring silently at Hel and cataloguing all the changes to her.

Coyote hissed, exhaling sharply. “Loki.”

“Considering the uproar Asgard is in, I thought you’d be here earlier,” Hel continued. She wasn’t looking at him, her head still turned so that her left side was facing him. Her dead side. Gabriel was fairly sure she couldn’t see out of that eye. When Gabriel still didn’t respond, she frowned, concern flickering across her face as she turned to face him fully. “Father?”

_“Our Parent isn’t **listening** —”_

Flinching minutely, Gabriel closed his eyes, hands fisting in his jacket.

“What happened to him?” Hel demanded.

“You think  _I_  know? He’s been like this since we got here!”

Light footsteps approached Gabriel, Hel drawing closer. “Are you hurt—”

“I wouldn’t touch him,” Coyote warned. “He almost killed me.”

“Don’t presume—” Hel spoke over him, but paused when Coyote finished. When she spoke again, her voice was quiet. “Father?”

All Gabriel managed was to shake his head, pulling away from where Hel was standing too close. Hurting her was  _not_  something he could deal with.

“How was he before you came?” Hel said finally, thankfully taking a step back.

“Fine? He seemed a little on the fidgety side when we got to the gate, but he brushed it off.”

Gabriel shuddered once as his Grace pulsed painfully, flinching away from the cold. He curled in on himself more tightly, breaths coming in tight, panicky bursts.

“What did he  _say_?”

“Nothing! He just warned me off touching him and said we shouldn’t be too close. He didn’t exactly explain.”

Coyote didn’t know, and Hel wasn’t going to figure it out unless someone told her.

Swallowing, Gabriel tried, but his throat just locked up. After a deep breath, he tried again, this time managing a small sound that went unheard. The third time was nothing more than a hoarse whine, and this time Hel heard him.

She stopped arguing with Coyote, crouching down. “What, Father?”

He grappled with himself, reaching for  _something_ , and then remembered the warmth that had rescued him. This time he managed it, forcing out a raspy “C-cold.” That was all he was able to get out, his voice dying out instantly afterward with a painful muscle spasm.

Neither of the others reacted immediately, waves of shock radiating from them.

“That’s it?” Coyote said finally. “He’s  _cold_?”

Gabriel would have kicked him, but he was too busy trying to consolidate all remaining body heat.

“I can make it warmer,” Hel said, ignoring Coyote. “I haven’t much practice, so this will take a moment.”

It took what seemed like an age, but gradually the temperature raised, pushing back the unnatural cold until it was as cold as it usually was on Jotunheim. Whatever chill remained was no longer able to sink into his Grace, enabling him to try and warm up with what energy he had left.

“That’s as much as I can manage,” Hel said. She offered him her hand – the right one. The living one. “You’re not the kind who should be on his knees.”

Gabriel slowly uncurled, muscles aching briefly before the pain vanished. He didn’t quite trust himself yet, shivers still wracking his frame, so he ignored Hel’s hand to stand shakily. He managed a wan smile, trying to tell her that it wasn’t because of  _her_  that he didn’t want to touch hands.

Hel clearly didn’t understand, her face shutting down at the perceived rejection.

Gabriel shook his head, unconsciously reaching out to touch her face but stopping himself at the last second, fingers inches from her skin. He pulled away before she could stop him, stumbling slightly before catching his balance.

It was still far too cold.

But he thought he could… “I…” He inhaled in frustration when his voice didn’t quite cooperate. Trying again, he forced out, “Not here.”

Hel’s disappointment didn’t quite disappear, but she did ask, “What do you mean?”

Gabriel could have cried at the thought that he had to try and  _explain_. He rubbed his face with both hands, fisting them briefly in his hair, trying to breathe. The movement exposed his torso more than he was comfortable with, the cold leeching through his shirt, and he shivered again, a whine escaping him before he could stop it.

But that –  _thankfully_  – was all Hel needed. “Is it still too cold?”

Drawing his jacket closer to himself, Gabriel nodded, managing an apologetic smile that he hoped didn’t look as painful as it felt. Judging from Hel’s face, he didn’t quite succeed.

Hel turned aside, thoughtful. Eventually, she said, “There isn’t any place here that is warm, but I can take us to Midgard.”

Although Gabriel didn’t answer, Coyote did. “Yes,  _please_.”

With a nod, Hel closed her eyes.

The sudden shift in their surroundings combined with the unfamiliar method of transportation and Gabriel’s still shaky limbs had him on the ground a few seconds after landing, groaning faintly and only vaguely aware that it was suddenly unseasonably hot and absolutely  _perfect_.

“Oh man, I can feel my feet now,” Coyote said gleefully, stomping said feet on the grass.

Spitting some grass out, Gabriel picked his head up to see Hel watching him worriedly. This time his smile came more easily, though it still made Hel’s forehead crinkle in concern.

“Are we heading to the bunker?” Coyote asked before Hel could say anything. “Let’s bring back the good news.”

“Bunker?” Hel turned to him curiously.

Gabriel briefly considered the state of his Grace, then reconsidered flying anyone other than himself. That would very likely not turn out well.

Instead, he turned his attention to the Host, asking privately for Castiel.

It took only a minute before Castiel landed a foot from Gabriel’s head, startling both Hel and Coyote with his sudden arrival.

“What are you doing here?” Hel demanded, bristling defensively.

Castiel gave her only a mildly curious look before returning his eyes to Gabriel. “He called me.” His face turned disapproving. “What did you do?”

“He didn’t do anything,” Coyote protested.

Castiel looked at him incredulously. “I doubt that. Gabriel is usually responsible for something.”

As this was absolutely true, Gabriel didn’t even feel insulted. He did let Castiel take his hand and pull him to his feet, leaning on him heavily once he was upright.

“Who are you?” Hel asked.

Castiel turned to look at her, one hand curled around Gabriel’s torso, his own Grace buffering the volatile heat from Gabriel’s. Gabriel could practically see him cataloguing all the little bits of Hel, but Castiel didn’t stiffen or obviously react in any way to her strange appearance.

“My name is Castiel,” he said, after a pause that was just a moment too long to be comfortable. “You’re his…daughter?”

Hel straightened slightly. “I am. You may call me Hel.”

Castiel inclined his head, eyes flickering to Coyote before returning to Gabriel. “I assume you would like to return to the others?”

Gabriel barely had time to nod before Castiel whisked all of them back to the bunker and straight into the library. Also, perhaps not entirely coincidentally judging from Castiel’s palpable concern, right next to a heater that was suddenly blasting full strength right at Gabriel.

Then there was a chair, and Castiel made sure he was sitting before withdrawing his support. “I can get you a blanket,” he said quietly, his hands drawing back to his sides, though not quickly enough to hide the blistered skin that was just healing. He didn’t wait for an answer, procuring a blanket from elsewhere in the bunker and settling it over Gabriel’s shoulders, careful to avoid touching him again.

Gabriel was aware that both Coyote and Hel were giving him looks edged with concern, but he didn’t meet either of their eyes. The warmth of the bunker was helping, and it was embarrassing afterwards, when he thought of how easily it had gotten to him.

“Oh, Cas, I thought you weren’t going to be back until tomorrow…” Dean drifted off, evidently catching sight of Gabriel. “You don’t look too good there, buddy.”

For lack of being able to say anything, Gabriel simply settled for a sour look that told Dean everything he needed to know about what Gabriel wanted to say.

Giving Gabriel one last concerned look, Dean turned to Hel, opening his mouth to say something, only to shut it when he actually took in her appearance. He blinked, jolting backwards in shock. Then, seeming to bolster himself, he said, “I take it you’re Hel?”

Hel raised one eyebrow. “Who else would I be?”

“Some other random god that decided to drop by? I don’t know - we’re swimming in them now.” Dean made a face, looking behind him. “I have to go get groceries.”

“I can get some,” Castiel offered.

“Dude, no. Last time you freaked out the poor guy behind the register because they were out of pie.”

Castiel looked decidedly disgruntled. “How could they run out of  _pie_?” He sounded like Dean, which was nightmarish on more than one level.

“Because it’s pie?” Dean spread his hands. “Just, no. But if you want to give me a ride, that’s cool.”

Hel tilted her head curiously, radiating confusion at the banal conversation. “You would go shopping and leave us here?” she asked.

Dean looked at her wryly. “Why not? It’s not like you’re going to go and eat someone in here, and I know for a fact that there are at least three people present who could give you a run for your money. I’m pretty sure James has got a bunch of guns stashed on his person somewhere.”

“Guns wouldn’t be very effective,” Castiel noted.

Gabriel snorted, remembering how that conversation had gone before they’d come to this universe. “I…couldn’t take them,” he said slowly, voice soft.

“You couldn’t just snap them off his person?” Dean raised a disbelieving eyebrow. Coyote, though, looked immensely relieved to hear Gabriel say something.

With a slow, even breath, Gabriel continued slowly. “Have you…even seen his pockets? I’m not…entirely sure…how many he’s got.” He cleared his throat, wincing slightly.

James sauntered in, hands in two of his most visible pockets. “You have pockets that don’t even exist,” he pointed out. “You have zero room to talk. You fished an  _ax_  out of one.”

Gabriel spread his hands, leaning back in his chair, affecting an injured look. “I have…fond memories of that one. Thought I might…need it.”

Hel’s good eye narrowed. “Is that the same one you had before? I thought you’d broken it.”

With a shrug, Gabriel pulled the ax out, letting it thud to the floor head first, the blade sinking into the wood. Dean winced dramatically at the sight.

“At least I have an excuse.” Much to his relief, the words came easier now. “A gun’s no use to these guys.”

“What about electricity?” Natasha asked, coming into stand by James. She turned her wrist speculatively, her Widow’s Bite gleaming in the light.

“There,” Dean said, waving at them. “My point stands. And there’s another one around here who kicks ass with his eyes closed, even if he does need a haircut.”

“I don’t see why you hold such animosity towards Sam’s hair,” Castiel said, squinting at Dean as if in an attempt to make his thoughts clearer.

“It’s just…” Dean waved his hand again, this time at the direction of his own head. “How does he even see?”

“Hey,” said James in a halfhearted imitation of offense.

“You have yours tied back.”

Natasha was looking at Gabriel, visibly concerned. “Are you all right? I don’t think I’ve seen you so pale before.”

“I’m all right,” Gabriel said, and Coyote scoffed. Hel looked distinctly unimpressed. She probably thought he should have made a better attempt at lying. “ _Now_ ,” he amended.

There was an unimpressed noise that sounded distinctly like Rhodey, and then he stepped into view from behind Gabriel, bending over to give him a closer look. “Explain why it looks like you got dragged through the Arctic.”

“Well,” Coyote said, “we sort of did.” He side-eyed Hel.

“I can hardly help what temperature Niflheim is,” she said, turning to give him a venomous look. James and Natasha, who up to that point had probably only been able to see her right side, didn’t react visibly to seeing the other side of her face. For once their spy training actually came in handy.

“ _You_  don’t look half frozen to death,” Rhodey said to Coyote. “Where’s your blanket?”

“It’s not like  _he_ was exactly freezing! He was giving off enough heat for a skyscraper!”

Gabriel deliberately didn’t meet Rhodey’s eyes when the other looked back at him.

Finally pulling away, Rhodey folded his arms across his chest, studying Gabriel closely. “Are you fine now?” he asked, his tone indicating that Gabriel  _better_  be fine but that he could admit it if he wasn’t.

Gabriel had literally never seen Castiel look so concerned before, his hands twitching at his sides as if he wanted to do something. Dean was also inspecting him carefully, his brow furrowed.

“Better now,” he answered finally, giving Rhodey a small smile.

Rhodey didn’t relax. “Then you’re not going to freak out when your kids get here in five seconds?”

Stiffening despite himself, it was only Rhodey’s warning that stopped Gabriel from overreacting when Sleipnir and Fenris barreled in, Jormungandr on their heels and a frazzled Sam right behind them.

The moment they saw Hel, though, they instantly shifted back, and it was in a scramble of arms and legs that they jumped to hug her. “ _Hel!_ ”

Sleipnir hung back hesitantly, close enough to touch as he watched Fenris and Jormungandr hug her tightly.

Gabriel leaned towards him slightly. “They’re your half-siblings,” he said, “not strangers. Go ahead.”

When Sleipnir continued to waffle, it was Jormungandr who yanked him in with a hand on his shirt.

Catching his breath, Sam ran a hand through his hair, straightening it and ignoring Dean miming a pair of scissors with his hand. He gave the group hug a brief look, nodded to Hel, and then stopped upon seeing Gabriel. “I’m pretty sure it’s not  _that_  cold out there…”

“Niflheim,” Gabriel said. Sam had probably run across the name before.

Sam’s eyes widened. “Niflheim, as in the entire realm of nothing but cold?”

“He was looking for me,” Hel said, wriggling her way out of the group hug. “I do not choose where my realm lies, Sam Winchester.”

Sam frowned. “How do you know—?”

“Who doesn’t?” Coyote asked rhetorically.

Choosing the wise option of ignoring Coyote, Sam turned to Gabriel. “You went  _there_? Are you completely nuts? You didn’t even tell us!”

“I had no idea you were my parent, Sam. I didn’t even sign any papers.”

“No, don’t—” Sam made a frustrated noise, frowning. “You forget I was in there, too! I don’t even like going up north anymore, and you  _deliberately_  stuck yourself somewhere where you can’t even light a fire!”

“Hold up,” Rhodey interrupted. “What are you talking about? What’s wrong with Tony going someplace cold?”

Gabriel lowered his head, bringing his hands up to his face. “Sam…”

“You didn’t tell them?” Sam sounded resigned. “Of course you didn’t.”

“He told us a lot,” Rhodey said. “Granted, it wasn’t under the best circumstance, but he did.”

“It wasn’t exactly  _specific_ ,” James pointed out. “Not that I wanted to ask…”

Sam shifted, clothes rustling. “You know that saying ‘when Hell freezes over’? People tend to think of Hell as hot, and I guess most of it  _is_ , but not…”

“Not where Lucifer was caged,” Castiel continued quietly. “I never felt it outside of that Cage but for very briefly…I felt its cold.”

The eyes of all three of his boys and Hel were on him – Gabriel could tell that without looking up.

“Is that why you didn’t come to me?” Hel asked, voice tight.

“ _No_ , that…” Gabriel sighed, sitting back upright. “This is…new. I didn’t come before because I couldn’t risk it. Couldn’t risk Heaven seeing me.”

“That,” Hel said, “is not what I meant.”

It took Gabriel a moment to realize what she  _did_ mean. “I…well…Dad took some offense to that. Ended up in a different universe.” He nodded to Rhodey. “And then…it didn’t happen because I wasn’t dead. I…fell.”

“Your father doesn’t have that power.”

“My name is Gabriel,” he said. “Resurrecting people is kind of old hat to Dad, even if He doesn’t do it often.”

“ _He’s still Dad,_ ” Fenris assured Hel, tugging at her clothes. “ _We talked about it already._ ”

Hel gave him an incredulous look. “ _Did you?_ ”

“I’m sorry,” Gabriel said, getting her attention again. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but there was no lie. I was Loki then, and I still carry that name. I never expected any of this to happen.”

“No shit,” Dean muttered, then grunted a second later when Sam kicked him in the ankle.

“They call you Gabriel,” Hel said, “not Loki.” She had crossed her arms over her chest.

Gabriel shrugged. “It’s just as true a name as Loki is. And their universe already had a Loki.”

Hel didn’t seem sure what to think of that; behind her, Sleipnir pulled a face like it was the most bizarre thing he’d ever heard of.

“They have a Hel, too,” Gabriel continued, “but I haven’t met her.” And he was pretty sure she wasn’t exactly a nice goddess, since the brief glimpse he’d had into her realm several years ago had been off-putting in more than one way.

Then again, Hel wasn’t that nice either.

“So your… _true_ father beat me to it and transported you to another universe,” Hel said flatly, “where you have been this whole time as Gabriel.”

“Basically,” Gabriel agreed.

“Why come back?” Hel demanded.

He looked at her siblings for a long moment. Then, looking back at Hel, he said simply, “Because of you. I didn’t have to hide anymore.”

“Why would you even pretend? What good did it do you to be less than you were?” The words were strained.

“I never pretended.” It was a bit tiring repeating this point. “I  _am_  Loki. And you’re my daughter. You’re all my kids. As for why…I couldn’t take it in Heaven anymore.”

“Your family Upstairs consists of a bunch of dicks, yeah,” Coyote said, a bit impatiently, “but what’s that about  _Lucifer’s_ cage? That cold thing isn’t an angel weakness, then? Were you… _in_  the cage?”

He couldn’t stop the reflexive shiver at the reminder, his eyes closing. Drawing his shoulders down, Gabriel buried his face in his hands, reminding himself to  _breathe_.

“I’m sure you remember the events last year shortly before our presence was revealed to the humans,” Castiel told Coyote quietly. “Lucifer broke out again, but Gabriel was able to subdue him.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

Castiel didn’t respond immediately. When he did, his tone was subdued. “You recall when the angels fell from Heaven…Gabriel undid what happened, but he…fell.”

“ _Dad?_ ” Fenris was there, his hand tentatively coming to rest on Gabriel’s shoulder.

Gabriel went utterly still, even his breath freezing in his lungs. It took a second to register the touch, and then another second too long for him to register that it was painless. Breathing was the next step, and after that he was able to move and touch Fenris’s hand reassuringly.

“What, like Lucifer did?” Coyote asked.

“Not so much, no. But the end result was the same.”

“Do you have to do this here?” Rhodey snapped after Gabriel shivered again. “Or do it at all? This doesn’t have to be brought up.”

“We deserve to know as much as you,” Hel snapped.

“ _He’s our dad_ ,” Jormungandr added stubbornly, nearly hissing the words.

“That doesn’t mean we have to dredge up old history.” Rhodey’s mouth was a set line.

There were too many people leaning over him to yell at each other – too many people there  _period,_ too many for him to keep an eye on all of them easily, so Gabriel took himself somewhere else in an instant.

In his haste, he’d left the blanket behind. Gabriel closed the door with a thought and then dragged the blanket off the bed, wrapping it around himself.

He didn’t want to sit on the bed. It would him remind him too much of what had happened after…

It would just remind him too much of that, and that was the last thing he needed.

For a brief moment, he wished Gadreel was here, but then he felt ridiculous for even thinking that. He didn’t _need_  Gadreel.

It was just...Gadreel made things a lot easier when this happened.

Pressing his back against the wall opposite the door, he pulled his legs close to his chest, wrapping the blanket fully around himself. Then he ducked his head into his arms, letting the darkness cover him.

He’d go out later…when he wasn’t so volatile.

* * *

The knock on the door jolted Gabriel out of his trance. It was accompanied by Rhodey’s soft voice asking if he could come in.

Giving a long sigh, Gabriel uncurled slightly, knocking his head lightly against the wall. “Yeah.”

There was a soft click as the knob turned, though the hinges were silent as Rhodey slowly opened it, peeking in first as if to make sure everything was decent. Once he was sure it was, he opened it wider, stepping over the threshold. Hel was right behind him.

“Thought I’d check up on you,” Rhodey said quietly, steps silent as he approached him. He sat down in front of Gabriel, mimicking Gabriel’s position. “The others wanted to as well, but…I talked them out of it.”

“I didn’t listen,” Hel said, closing the door. She looked like she wanted to sit next to Gabriel but didn’t seem certain of her reception.

“She didn’t listen,” Rhodey agreed, lips twitching.

Fingers flexing in the blanket, Gabriel nodded to the spot beside him, not shifting when Hel sat down. “Are the others all right?”

“Worried.” Hel glanced at the door. “And impatient to see you. What they learned didn’t help.” A flash of guilt crossed her face. “If I’d known, I wouldn’t have dragged it out.”

“You didn’t, and I wasn’t expecting anything different. It’s not your fault.”

“It’s not yours either,” Rhodey said bluntly. “I mean, it’s your fault that you didn’t tell us where you were going and what that meant, but what actually happened isn’t yours. I hope you know that.”

Gabriel barely kept the frustration out of his voice. “Then whose is it?”

“At a guess, the dick that made you do it in the first place?” Rhodey shrugged. “But I’m personally fine with blaming your Dad. He came up with the whole thing, anyway.”

“He doesn’t make us do anything,” Gabriel said quietly. “Whatever I did, it was my decision.”

“Look, if it were any other situation, I would definitely agree with you, but you didn’t know the consequences.  _I’m_  still not sure what exactly happened since Castiel isn’t really the best at explaining, but I know enough that you didn’t mean for any of that to happen.” Rhodey hesitated only briefly before touching Gabriel’s leg under the blanket, squeezing it comfortingly. “But since it did, we’ll deal. And you’re not going to be alone.”

Gabriel held his gaze for a long moment, the silence settling naturally around them. Eventually he nodded, a small smile appearing as quickly as it disappeared.

“The others have told me what you told them,” Hel said after a pause, not looking at him. “Sleipnir gave me more details about what you said about your...death. I can’t say it’s entirely understandable.”

“Which part?” Gabriel asked dryly. “Since there are a few things I’m not going to get an answer on either. The one being who can isn’t exactly taking messages.”

“You’re usually taking messages from Him, aren’t you?” Rhodey’s amused tone made it clear it was a rhetorical question.

“It could go both ways.” Though it hadn’t in a long time.

“I still don’t understand why you decided to become Loki,” Hel said. “Why did you take us in? Everything I’ve experienced with others of your kind is…”

“Unpleasant?” Gabriel suggested, grinning darkly. “That was the point. They wouldn’t suspect me as Loki, making it the best place to hide. But for you guys…there wasn’t an ulterior motive, Hel. I just wanted to help.”

“And then you left.”

Gabriel couldn’t help but wince at that. “Yes,” he agreed, more quietly. “I did. And I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have.”

“But you came back,” Hel whispered, turning fully to look at Gabriel.

“I was reminded of the mistake I’d made a long time ago,” Gabriel said. “I hardly have anything left to hide, now. There was no better time to fix things.”

“He’s leaving out the part where I helped kick his ass into gear,” Rhodey added. “But he was already on the way.”

“Rhodey—”

“He was just too nervous about your reactions,” Rhodey continued, ignoring Gabriel’s protest. “But family’s family, and things tend to work out usually.”

Even if it took an age.

“You weren’t afraid of what Asgard might do?” Hel looked almost amused.

“Asgard can kiss my ass,” Gabriel said without thinking, but Rhodey snorted and Hel rolled her eye, so he hardly regretted saying it. “I’m serious. I don’t care what they try. They’re not touching any of you.”

“You can promise that?”

“I’ve faced worse things than Asgard.” Gabriel reached out from under the blanket to touch Hel’s warmer hand, wrapping his own around it. “I can promise that I’ll protect all of you.”

“Even if…” Hel glanced at a suspiciously blank-faced Rhodey. “Even when you return to where you were staying?”

The reminder hit Gabriel like a punch to the stomach. “I…” He briefly looked down, gathering his thoughts. “I don’t know what you want to do. That decision – what all of you want…I was going to leave that to you.”

“Whether we might stay or go with you?” Even with only one living eye, Hel was good at giving people sharp looks. “Don’t you think if there was only one of those three who wanted to come, the others wouldn’t say they did, too? They’ve been separated for too long to willingly remain that way.”

“What about you?” Gabriel asked softly.

Hel blinked, evidently not having expected that. “What about me?”

Gabriel squeezed her hand briefly. “What do  _you_  want? You’re queen of an entire realm here, Hel. There’s a Niflheim in my universe, but there’s a Hel there, too. I can’t say much about her, but she’s there.”

Hel turned away, not meeting either of their eyes. Her dead hand flexed where she had it resting on her leg. “I am feared,” she said finally in a soft tone, “but not loved. I am respected, but it is only because of what I am – what I do. When I felt your passing, I had hoped that I would see you again. I waited for you…but you never showed. Then you  _did_ , and now…you’re here again. And your friends…they don’t fear me.”

“There isn’t much that scares them,” Gabriel said quietly, throat thick.

A small smile flickered across Hel’s face. “I suppose what I am trying to say is…there isn’t much for me. My job is a lonely one, and I didn’t take it by choice.”

“You could—”

“What, leave? Leave a realm queenless and uncontrolled?” Hel shook her head. “Souls require someone to keep them in line as well as guard them. You and I know that.”

Gabriel did know that. It was one of the few natural laws he didn’t have the power to change. “I’m sorry,” he said finally.

“Don’t be.” Hel pulled her hand away from his, only to reach up to touch his face. “It was good to see you again. Let the boys make their decision.” Her smile was sad.

Uncertain of what to say, Gabriel kept silent as Hel smoothly stood up. She nodded to Rhodey, then went to the door and opened it. She gave Gabriel one last look before leaving the room entirely.

No sooner had she stepped out of sight did Fenris scramble in on all fours. Jormungandr followed right after him, and only Sleipnir had the decency to look slightly ashamed at having been so blatantly eavesdropping.

James and Natasha both poked their heads into view, gave Gabriel two innocent faces, and then shut the door.

“Did they just lock it?” Rhodey asked after a moment, staring at the door incredulously. “I’m still in here!”

“None of us are going to bite you,” Gabriel said in the Allspeak, though Fenris bared his teeth playfully at Rhodey the moment he said that.

“Says the guy with two fanged kids.”

“They’re soft on the inside,” Gabriel informed Rhodey, as Fenris did his best to wriggle under the blanket with him.

“ _And bloody,_ ” Jormungandr said. “ _Possibly also squishy?_ ”

“It’s a figure of speech,” Gabriel said, smiling fondly. “It means you’re not as tough as you might look.”

Jormungandr made a face. “ _Why not just **say**  that, then?_”

“Because humans have weird idioms?”

“That’s actually completely true,” Rhodey said, pulling a thoughtful face.

“Even humans who speak English from birth get tripped up by English,” Gabriel informed Jormungandr. “It’s a complicated language.”

Fenris made a disgusted face. “ _And you want us to **learn**  that?_”

“You’re bright kids; it shouldn’t take too long.” Gabriel rubbed Fenris’s head, stroking at the base of his neck, Fenris pushing his head back into the touch.

Rhodey looked rather like he was desperately suppressing the urge to coo, only to wipe it off his face when he saw Gabriel giving him an amused look.

“So,” Gabriel said, turning his attention to all three of them, “how much did you hear?”

“ _I translated,_ ” Sleipnir admitted when his brothers glanced at him. “ _Just…about everything?_ ” He grinned sheepishly.

“Of course you did,” Gabriel said dryly. When had his kids spying on him become so commonplace? “At least this means I don’t have to explain again. Did you have any questions?”

“ _Where do you live?_ ” Fenris demanded immediately. “ _Is it like here?_ ”

“I live on an Earth, but it’s different. There aren’t any other gods around, though you might see the other Loki sometimes. And Thor, but he’s nice.” Gabriel wound his arm around Fenris’s back. “You’ll like my friends.”

“ _I thought you said friends were for people who didn’t like themselves,_ ” Jormungandr said, raising his eyebrows.

Had he said that? It was certainly possible… It was likely he’d said that to try and distract them from how hostile and unfriendly Asgard had been. “I changed my mind,” he said eventually. “You’ve already met James and Natasha, right?” He inclined his head towards the door.

“ _I like them,_ ” Fenris announced. “ _They’re nice and teach us things, and they also like knives._ ” He gave Gabriel a toothy grin. “ _They’re fun to play with._ ”

“You’ll definitely like the others,” Gabriel said, matching his grin. “I think Clint’s right up your alley.”

“ _If we were to come with you, what would that mean?_ ” Sleipnir asked. “ _Is there an Asgard there?_ ”

“You wouldn’t be staying there,” Gabriel said. “They wouldn’t mind, but I’m not there that often. So you’d be staying with me and…” He paused, unsure of how to word this. “Well, this is probably the part where I tell you about your  _other_  siblings.”

“ ** _Other_** _siblings?_ ” all three of them demanded in sync.

“ _When did you adopt other kids?_ ” Fenris wanted to know.

“Not so much adoption as…accidental creation?” Gabriel shrugged. “I was as surprised as you, I just sort of went with it.”

Sleipnir looked scandalized. “ _You got someone pregnant?_ ”

Gabriel snorted, and then tried to pretend he hadn’t. “ _No._ I meant  _Creation._ I was human for a while, and I made these – they’re  _called_ artificial intelligences. I suppose you could think of them like golems”—Rhodey made a weird noise at that—“but they’re not the same thing,” he said hurriedly, seeing Jormungandr open his mouth to talk. “And then when I recovered my angelic power and everything else, I realized they had souls, and it sort of…went from there.”

“ _You’re telling us we have more siblings? And that you **made**  them?_” Jormungandr looked a bit like he was struggling to understand.

“That’s…pretty much exactly what happened.”

“It’s weird from my end of things, too,” Rhodey said. “Mostly because every time I turn my head your dad’s family seems to grow by at  _least_ one or two people.”

“Gadreel makes just one when I got back last time,” Gabriel said.

“Yeah, but I met Castiel before that. That’s two.  _Plus_ Raphael.” Rhodey paused a moment. “You brought Sam back, too, when you introduced Gadreel. That makes two  _more_.”

“If it’s any consolation, you’re kind of related to every person on Earth in some really distant way.”

Rhodey stared at him. “That – that’s really not, no. I don’t actually  _know_  them.”

Gabriel shrugged. “I don’t exactly know all of my siblings either. I could name them if you put one in front of me, but that doesn’t mean I know them.”

“Yeah, see, I wouldn’t even be able to name all my so-called ‘relatives’ on Earth.”

Fenris tugged on Gabriel’s jacket. “ _Would we get to know them?_ ” he asked. “ _Would they like us?_ ”

Gabriel smiled, remembering what Butterfingers had demanded of him. “I know for a fact that they’re looking forward to meeting you if they can. They love meeting new people and making friends.” He leaned in close. “Three of them are younger than you guys.”

“ _How many do you **have**?_ ” Fenris looked at him incredulously.

“Five. Jarvis is technically the second youngest, but his coding was older than the others…” Gabriel realized they didn’t understand what that meant. “He’s the oldest,” he clarified. “I wasn’t too good at making them when I started, so he’s really just the most mature out of all of them.”

“ _I’m still confused,_ ” Jormungandr said after a moment.

“You’re not explaining this very well,” Rhodey informed Gabriel.

“Robots are complicated,” Gabriel retorted. “AIs even more so.  _Especially_  for people still getting used to the twenty-first century.”

“ _What’s an AI?_ ” Fenris asked.

“Complicated.”

Fenris made a face, lips pursing in a pout. “ _You’re not even trying to explain it._ ”

“I’ve tried explaining to my friends, but they don’t seem to entirely understand yet either.” When that answer didn’t seem to satisfy Fenris, Gabriel sought for a simplified explanation. “It is complicated, and it’s something that people wouldn’t have thought of before. Picture…a golem”—since that was really the only thing remotely similar to an AI for his kids’ comprehension—“but one who can think, feel, and talk for itself. And learn quickly, picking up new concepts that humans and gods can’t.”

“So they’re alive,” Sleipnir said, looking like he was somewhere between fascinated and completely bewildered. “But also not  _really_ real?”

“That’s where the ‘artificial’ part comes in,” Gabriel said. “I essentially ‘wrote’ them into being, a lot like a book.”

“ _Wrote them on what?_ ” Jormungandr sounded skeptical, but then again the whole thing did seem a bit dubious when approaching it for the first time.

“You’ll learn about computers,” Gabriel said, shifting so he could pull his phone out of his pants. “But here.” He showed them the nearly transparent device, thumbing it on. “This is what we call a phone. You can talk to people on it who are in a different country. Computers are larger and let you do more things.”

“They’re not that large if they’re yours,” Rhodey pointed out, grinning.

“Why does the size matter?” Sleipnir reached out for the phone. Gabriel let him take it, and Fenris slipped out from under the blanket to lean over his brother’s shoulder.

“The earliest computers were really large and would probably barely fit inside this room. This bunker’s got a good example of one, actually. They’ve gotten smaller since, and one could fit on your lap.”

“Size is really just a matter of convenience,” Rhodey said. “People use ’em so often, they like having something that handy be easily portable.”

“So…you wrote your AIs on this?” Sleipnir eyed the phone skeptically.

“Something similar to it.” Technology back in the 80s hadn’t been anything special compared to what they had now. It had taken Tony a while to be able to code Dummy. In comparison, JARVIS had been a breeze.

“ _What kind of other things can you do on these?_ ” Jormungandr had gotten his hands on the phone, and was poking at the screen.

“Depends on the phone. That’s one-of-a-kind - there isn’t much you  _can’t_  do.” Gabriel’s lips twitched as Jormungandr accessed the photos. “You can take pictures; those are like paintings, and it’s a lot quicker than doing it by hand. You can access something like a library. And then there are all kinds of games you can play.”

“ _All people have these now?_ ” Fenris looked up at him curiously.

“Not everyone, but a lot do.”

“ _And you’d…teach us about these things?_ ” Fenris’s eyes were wide.

Gabriel took a moment to respond, heart thumping painfully. “If you come back with me. Otherwise…Dean and Sam would do it.”

Rhodey made a noise but didn’t say anything beyond raising his eyebrows meaningfully.

Well, okay, Gabriel hadn’t  _talked_  about it with the brothers, but he was relatively sure that they’d be all for it after putting up some lackluster arguments.

Fenris scrambled back over to Gabriel’s side, pressing his face briefly into his shoulder. “ _We wouldn’t see you again,_ ” he said eventually, voice muffled.

“No, you would,” Gabriel protested. “Just…not that often.”

“What about Asgard?” Sleipnir demanded. “Two people aren’t enough to keep them away.”

“I’m not letting anything happen to you,” Gabriel said immediately. “Especially not at  _their_ hands.”

“ _But you’ll be gone!_ ” Jormungandr protested. “ _We just got back together now, and you’re leaving again?_ ”

There was little Gabriel could say in response to that. So he nodded, managing an apologetic smile that disappeared as quickly as he’d been able to muster it.

“ _We can come with you, right?_ ” Fenris asked after a moment, lifting his head to look at Gabriel. “ _That’s what you said, isn’t it?_ ”

Nodding again, Gabriel brought a hand up to run it through Fenris’s hair, ruffling it. “That’s your decision.”

“ _I…_ ” Fenris glanced at his brothers, mouth twisting briefly. Something unspoken passed between the three of them before he nodded, determination settling into him. “ _I want to go._ ”

Gabriel didn’t allow himself to react beyond a small twitch of his fingers. He did look at the others. “And you?”

Sleipnir gave a small smile, inclining his head. “ _Where one goes, we all go,_ ” he murmured, one hand coming to rest on Jormungandr’s shoulder.

Rhodey glanced between all of them before turning to Gabriel, visibly confused. “You look a little like you want to cry, Tones. What’s going on?”

He was  _not_  going to cry. Though his eyes were stinging a little. “They…they’re going to come back with us.” Unfortunately, there was no hiding the thickness of his voice.

“ _Oh._ ” Rhodey looks over at the three boys. “Well, hey, you’re definitely welcome. Things are already so crazy back home I doubt you three can make it any crazier.”

“ _I have no idea what you’re saying,_ ” Fenris told him. Gabriel snorted, unable to stop himself from grinning.

“ _He essentially bid us welcome,_ ” Sleipnir said. “ _Although said apparently we would make things more insane?_ ” He seemed a little confused at the unfamiliar vernacular. “We are perfectly sane,” he informed Rhodey.

“Sane?” Rhodey squinted for all of a second before realizing what Sleipnir was getting at. “Oh no, it’s a figure of speech. I just meant that things are weird, and you guys aren’t going to make it worse.”

“ _But Hel can’t come with us,_ ” Jormungandr said, eyes flickering to the door and back to Gabriel.

“I’ll…figure something out,” Gabriel said, senses turning to her presence in the bunker.

They accepted the answer, as tentative as it was.

“ _How much longer are we going to stay here, then?_ ” Fenris asked.

Gabriel considered the question. “Until I’ve got everything sorted out,” he said eventually. “Shouldn’t be much longer.” He’d rather not risk Asgard’s wrath any more than he had to.

Fenris nodded. “ _So we can tell everyone goodbye._ ” He frowned slightly, tilting his head. “ _How do you say goodbye now?_ ”

“Bye,” Gabriel told him in English. “Or ‘goodbye.’”

Fenris repeated the word, surprisingly not mangling it. “ _That’s short._ ”

“There are other ways to say it, but that’s the simplest.”

“ _Teach us the others,_ ” Fenris demanded. After a moment, he added, “ _Are there any funny ways to say it?_ ”

Jormungandr leaned in now, obviously curious about the answer. Even Sleipnir couldn’t hide his curiosity.

“I think it would depend on the situation,” Gabriel said after a moment, unable to think of anything off the top of his head.

“What situation?” Rhodey asked. “I’m starting to feel a little left out of this conversation, you know.”

“Contribute, then. Know any funny ways to say goodbye?”

Rhodey tilted his head thoughtfully. “That does depend… I mean, if you’re kicking someone’s ass, you might go for ‘au revoir.’”

“Who goes for ‘au revoir?’” Gabriel asked incredulously.

“Some people.” Rhodey ignored his skeptical look. “Uh…bye-bye, butterfly,” he offered a moment later. “See ya later, alligator. Smell ya later. Keep it real. Keep it frosty. Er…no, that’s  _stay_  frosty. Ooh, I like this one…” He grinned broadly. “Hasta la vista, baby.”

Now that Rhodey had started, Gabriel could think of some other phrases as well, though most were useless without a base knowledge of modern slang. “Stay classy,” he said eventually, nodding. “So long, and thanks for all the fish.”

“Fish?” Sleipnir frowned. “Would you use that if you obtained fish?”

“No, just if you wanted to be funny.” Gabriel mentally searched for a few more. “Later, haters. And…it’s been real.” He switched back to the Allspeak. “There are more, but it depends on the situation. You wouldn’t want to say any of those to someone you don’t know.”

“ _What did he say?_ ” Fenris asked, glancing back at Rhodey.

Gabriel repeated each of Rhodey’s phrases more slowly in English, waiting until Fenris repeated it back to him before moving on. “And for greeting someone, just stick with  _hello_.”

“ _That sounds boring_ ,” Fenris said.

“And short,” Sleipnir adds.

“Stick with it for now. There’re a lot of different ways you can say hello to someone, but the basic greeting covers everything.”

“Hello,” Jormungandr said a moment later, making a face. “ _Boring_ ,” he agreed with Fenris. “ _Is there something that suggests we can do cool stuff?_ ”

Gabriel barely had to think before saying, “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

Rhodey stifled a snicker, covering his mouth with a hand. “That’s  _one_  way to say hello.”

Sleipnir looked like he wasn’t entirely sure if Gabriel was being serious. “Who’s Inigo?”

Gabriel grinned, sharing a look with Rhodey. “He’s a character from a movie, which is something like a play. But it’s a play with only one set of actors, and you can watch it again and again. We’ll watch it sometime.”

Fenris was looking into the distance like he could see something that held the secrets of the universe (or at least modern English) and was refusing to divulge them. “ _I don’t get it,_ ” he said decisively after a moment.

“Only one way to solve that, then,” Gabriel said. “How many movies do you think Sam and Dean own?”

“At least a few, probably,” Rhodey said. “What, you want to show them something?”

“ _Are we stealing things_?” Jormungandr had perked up.

“Yeah, why not. Let’s go steal things.” Gabriel grinned.

In all honesty, there was no way having these guys around  _wouldn’t_  have resulted in this exact situation.

* * *

**Hel**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to make the shadows on Hel's left (right to the viewer) side a little more dramatic, but the base colors were so varied I'm not sure it came out quite like I intended...but you all get the point, I'm sure. She's half-dead; her left side is a little more skeletal and a lot more likely to scare people. It's not pretty (I took my idea of her sort of frostbitten appearance from someone else's artist's rendition of a more Marvel-style Hel - disregarding comic canon I assume - it's tagged as 'hel' on my blog, if you'd like to see that picture).
> 
> Honestly, I have a lot to say about Hel, but I don't think it would fit in an author's note so I'll save it for my blog :) Or maybe I should say Hel has been calling and is getting annoyed that I haven't been doing much for her...
> 
> _Sometimes friends can't be as sensitive as they should, although Rhodey definitely tried. Trauma and its aftereffects aren't well handled by everyone (even angels), but Gabriel/Tony has some idea of how to take care of it by removing himself from the room. In any case, you guys have met Hel now! :D 3 more chapters to go!_


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So much happens in this chapter, guys. SO MUCH. I'm pulling a Rebecca Sugar and shooting plot at you with a t-shirt cannon (I was going to say confetti cannon, but I don't think that gets my point across quite as artfully). 
> 
> I would put more in this note, but spoilers!

Dean entered the room, stopped, and started.

Gabriel really couldn’t fault him.

“You have a shitty DVD collection,” Gabriel told him.

“Sam likes Netflix better,” Dean said, probably on autopilot, still staring. “Uh…what’s going on here?”

Gabriel looked behind him. Sleipnir was sitting on the ground next to the sofa, having reverted to a smaller version of his natural (read: eight-legged) form. Fenris was taking up half the sofa, and Jormungandr was hiding under the cushion on the other half with his head sticking out so he could see what Gabriel was doing.

“I’m looking for bad period dramas to show these guys,” Gabriel said. “Obviously.”

“I…okay.” Dean stared for a few more moments, apparently still struck speechless by the scene in front of him.

Gabriel decided to throw him a bone. “You come in for any particular reason, or did you just want to know where we were?”

“Yeah, uh…” Dean shook his head, seeming to recollect his thoughts. “Your friends are looking for you. Not Coyote. The others.” He eyed the kids for a few seconds. “If you want…I could try and find a ‘bad period drama’ to show them.”

“You have DVDs that  _aren’t_  here?” Gabriel gestured to the collection, more than a few of which weren’t even in English, with a thumb.

“I’m sure Sam won’t mind if we use his Netflix account.” There was a hint of a mischievous grin on Dean’s face, probably at the idea of Sam logging in and finding nothing but recommendations for period dramas.

“I knew I liked you,” Gabriel said cheerfully, tossing the DVD he was holding onto the shelf. “No worries on ratings. They can handle it.” He turned to them, switching to Allspeak. “Dean’s going to introduce you to the wonderful world of movies. I’ll be back in a bit.”

Fenris’s ears flattened slightly, and Jormungandr retreated slightly into the couch, but Sleipnir just nodded and looked at Dean expectantly. Dean eyed the three of them, and then casually moved over to the couch to pick up the remote.

“Let’s see what we can find, yeah? I’m sure there’s something awful enough to make you guys want to watch even more.” He paused, glancing back at them. “Even with the language barrier. Maybe something with really bad special effects?”

Satisfied that Dean would make sure things were all right, Gabriel left them to it. He didn’t have to ask Dean where his friends were, since he could tell they were in the area directly below the exit. Coyote was elsewhere in the bunker, probably poking around in some of the storage areas. That was probably a recipe for disaster, but Gabriel wasn’t going to stop him.

His friends were whispering conspiratorially to each other when he entered the room, in a manner that had all his suspicions rising.

He pointedly cleared his throat to get their attention, pleased when Rhodey jumped at the noise. Natasha simply gave him a bland look, although James did look a little sheepish.

“Dean said you wanted a word?”

“Let’s not do this here,” Natasha said. “Not with ears listening in.”

Considering how likely it was for his kids to actually escape Dean and eavesdrop, Gabriel nodded, heading to the staircase. It was still warm outside, but the sky was slowly pinkening as the sun set, and the trees cast long shadows.

“You don’t look like anyone’s dying,” Gabriel said before anyone else could start. “So I’m guessing this isn’t anything bad.”

Oh heavens, his friends all looked at each other as if silently asking who should talk. It ended up being Rhodey, who turned to him with an apologetic expression.

“Any idea on how much longer we’ll be here?” Rhodey asked. “Because we’ve got what we came for, right? So we can head back?”

Gabriel didn’t immediately answer, eyeing Rhodey and the other two speculatively. “What brought this on?”

“We’re just…a little concerned about how the other gods might react. So…maybe we should leave before things get to that point.”

That was a legit point. A point that Gabriel had been trying to ignore since he’d talked with Hel in her realm. And, really, Rhodey was right, since they’d come here to get his kids out and succeeded. Only now…

He didn’t want to just  _leave_  Hel here. There had to be a way he could finagle it so she could come as well.

“Is this about Hel?” Natasha asked. “She seemed like she wanted to come. Surely you can do  _something_ so that she can.”

“Not without getting someone else to take her place,” Gabriel said. “And it’ll sting, giving up that throne, even if she knows it’s the only way to come with us.” He’d always been a little prouder as Loki, and Hel took after him a  _lot_ in certain areas.

“And no one wants to be the ruler of the dead,” James said dryly. “Guess they’re not exactly chatty.”

“You don’t want to leave her behind,” Rhodey said softly. “Yeah, I get that. There’s got to be an another option here.”

Gabriel looked down, hands in his pockets. The problem was that he couldn’t see a way out. Hel had been handed a duty no one else wanted, so how was he supposed to find someone to take it?

“Isn’t there another version of her realm in our universe? That’s what you said, right?” James asked. “She could, I dunno, share with whoever’s already there.”

“Ha. I haven’t met the Hel in our universe, but I don’t get the feeling she’s the type to share.” Not from the little he’d gleaned after he’d gotten his Grace back that first time. “Besides, the problem’s her leaving  _this_  realm.”

“And leaving the dead without a chaperone,” Rhodey noted, nodding. “Bad, okay. But what about…I dunno…” He shrugged, face pensive. “Swapping, maybe?”

“ _Swapping_?” Gabriel repeated incredulously, before he could think of a better reply.

“Y’know…your kid for the one that’s in our world… That way both places get a ruler, and your kid gets to come, too.” Rhodey looked only a little nervous. “You can do that, right?”

“Convince someone I’ve never met, who probably isn’t friendly, to give up her realm for an alternate-universe version of it to do me a favor?” Gabriel gave him a flat look. “ _Suuuuure._ ”

“Have you  _met_  yourself?” Rhodey waved his hands in Gabriel’s direction. “Look, as your best bud, I try not to encourage your more criminal tendencies, but I’m putting it nicely when I say that you could sweet-talk a bank into giving over its account information.”

“I…” Gabriel paused, running that sentence over in his head. “Really.”

“I’m going to regret this,” Rhodey said resignedly. Still, he nodded. “Really.”

“As someone who hasn’t known you as long, I have to say he has a point,” Natasha said, giving a small shrug. “Maybe not to the point of robbing banks, but if you really try, no one actually notices. Most of the time you don’t care what happens so you just…”

“Run roughshod over whoever’s in your way,” James finished.

“Thanks,” Gabriel said dryly, but his mind was going even quicker than it usually did, turning the idea over and looking for any obvious holes. It would mean going over to talk with the Hel of that world and then coming back, but if he could  _do_  it…

Of course, he didn’t know what the Hel of his new universe was like, but he could guess, and if he phrased it the right way and offered the right thing, it just might be possible.

The probability of it working went down when he considered that it would be  _way_ too good to be true, but he could hope.

“Are we just going to stand here watching you brainstorm, or could we actually do something?” Rhodey asked. “We might as well go into the town or something, we’re already outside.”

“Yeah,” James agreed. “Staring at you while standing in the middle of some back road isn’t exactly thrilling.”

“What do you suggest, then?” Gabriel asked, rolling his eyes. They were the ones who had suggested going outside in the first place.

Something odd registered on his senses. Gabriel frowned, trying to pinpoint the feeling. It was something else just barely brushing up against him.

“What?” Natasha asked, having caught the look.

“Probably nothing.” Maybe he should ask if Coyote felt it, too.

“ _Probably?_  That’s not reassuring.” James’s hand was casually propped on his hip, next to at least three hidden knives.

“You felt that too, right?” Coyote asked, abruptly right next to Gabriel. The other three jumped, Rhodey more obviously than the two assassins.

“Well, at least I don’t have to go look for you,” Gabriel said. “I was gonna ask—”

“I’m surprised  _you_ don’t recognize it,” Coyote said. He looked almost anxious. “ _How_  long have you been away, again? Somebody’s coming.”

James swore under his breath in what sounded like Russian.

“Well, that doesn’t sound ominous at all,” Rhodey said, with the air of someone who had long ago reconciled himself to the fact that his life would always be exciting whether he wanted it to be or not.

Gabriel extended his senses, trying to figure out who was approaching. If they didn’t want to be noticed—

Oh.

Well,  _she_ certainly wasn’t trying hard to stay low.

“Kali,” Gabriel said, puzzled.

“ _Kali_?” Coyote and Rhodey said at the same time, both much louder.

“Oh fuck this, I’m out,” Coyote said, making good on that and vanishing as soon as he’d finished speaking.

“Your  _ex,_ Kali?” Rhodey asked at almost the same time.

“Your  _what,_ ” Natasha and James said simultaneously, in identical tones of barely-contained shock.

James gave Gabriel a look that suggested he better start explaining, which made very little sense until he recalled that James was best friends with Steve and knew a lot about Steve’s inner workings.

“Okay,” Gabriel said, putting his hands up. “Before you start worrying about Steve’s feelings, it wasn’t like  _that._ ” They’d just sort of fallen in together and eventually figured out that neither of them actually loved the other enough to be in a relationship. “It was sex. Mostly. And a fun relationship. More friends with benefits—”

“I’m gonna stop you there before you start going into detail,” Natasha interrupted.

“I can censor myself when I feel like it, thank you, I know where to stop.” Gabriel ran a hand through his hair. “How ’bout we go somewhere nice and wait for her to show up?”

It was less of a question and more of a suggestion, since he didn’t wait for a response before whisking them off to somewhere that wasn’t as close to his kids and two volatile hunters.

“Would it  _kill_ you to give us a warning?” James asked, long-sufferingly.

“Probably not,” Gabriel said airily, dropping into a seat. He’d picked the nicest place he could find on short notice that was more on the fringes of Lebanon, on the opposite side of town as the bunker.

“You’re going to make the hostess lose her job,” Rhodey said, giving Gabriel a disapproving look.

“No, I won’t.” Gabriel casually drummed his fingers on the tabletop, arching his eyebrows.

Rhodey groaned, eyes flicking from Gabriel’s fingers to his face and to the front of the restaurant. “You are  _ridiculous_.”

“If this is news to you, then you won’t last very long,” Kali’s voice said. A second later she slid into the space next to Gabriel, arm sliding over the back.

Gabriel didn’t stiffen the way his friends did. He did lean back, pretending to casually lean against the floor-to-ceiling window that provided a stunning view of more shops. Then, turning his head, he grinned at her. “Make yourself at home, sweetheart.”

Kali didn’t smile back, though she slowly raised an eyebrow. “I plan to.”

“Wait.” Rhodey looked between Kali and Gabriel. “ _This_  is Kali?”

“What were you expecting?” Gabriel raised his eyebrows, glancing at Rhodey without turning his head.

“Someone a little less likely to bite our heads off?” Rhodey’s shoulders slumped. “Oh, who am I kidding? She’s exactly up your alley.”

“Speaking from experience?” Natasha asked, eyes on Kali.

“Less than you’re thinking of,” Rhodey said.

Kali appeared to be completely ignoring the other three. “You’ve caused a lot of trouble in a very short time span,” she said, eyes on Gabriel.

“Call it a talent,” he said. “You didn’t come by just for small talk, Kali.”

“Last I saw you, you were dead.”

“Someone hasn’t been paying attention. I’ve been back here before.”

“I know.” The words were quiet, Kali’s tone sober. “And you were gone before I could find you.”

Ah. “Looking for me, then? Thought you would’ve wiped your hands after the affair at the hotel.”

“I felt it happen.” Kali didn’t need to specify what she meant. “It was only minutes after you sent us off.”

“Remind me, how long was that after you tried to kill me?” Gabriel’s voice hardened.

“You know why I tried,” Kali said. “You expected it.”

“I know gods. And I know you.” He understood why, that didn’t mean he liked it. But hey, better him than some random angel snatched off the street and killed to make a point. He’d known what he was getting into. “It’d have been better if you hadn’t tried, y’know.” He drummed his fingers against the table. “But you’re not here to rehash old times, are you?”

“That was part of it.” Kali glanced briefly outside. “As I said, you’ve caused a lot of trouble. Asgard is practically rioting.”

“That’s nothing new. From what I’ve seen, they could use the intrigue. I bet it’s been boring over there.”

“It’s strange,” Kali said softly. “For everything you said about what happened last time, I wouldn’t have thought you’d try again now. Not after what happened the last time you were here.”

“Wait…” Gabriel gave her an incredulous look. “Are  _you_  thinking that I’m going to kick off Ragnarok?”

“It was prophesied,” Kali said in the tone of voice that meant she didn’t give a shit.

“And I’m the kind of person who’d actually play along with that?” Gabriel rolled his eyes. “You know me  _so_ well.” He put as much sarcasm into his voice as he could.

“You didn’t have to tell me for me to figure out who you really were,” Kali said. To someone who knew her, the confident tone was the equivalent of a billboard with “smug” written on it in neon with spotlights shining down on it. “That counts for something.”

“I’ll give you a point.” Gabriel bumped his feet against Rhodey’s as he shifted. “And maybe another if you decide not to buy into what Asgard’s selling these days.”

“You released the wolf and the snake,” Kali said. “Should we expect the sun to be eaten sometime soon?”

“You’ll have noticed that the Earth’s still in one piece despite  _Jormungandr_  no longer being wrapped around it.” Gabriel gave her a sharp look. “I don’t abide by prophecies anymore. They’re rarely ever true unless the people involved make it happen.”

“You’re calling the end of the Norse world a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

“And you’re blaming Fenris for the supposed actions of another wolf, with that talk about the sun,” Gabriel retorted. “Maybe we’re both wrong. I doubt I am.” Maybe angels had enormous egos (he’d be the first to admit that this was completely true), but they had egos for a  _reason_. “Either way, what happened to the whole ‘if the world ends,  _you’ll_ do it and nobody else’?”

“What about our conversation suggests that I’ve changed my mind?”

Rhodey was staring, looking like he was fascinated despite his better judgment. Natasha and James were both staring blankly, which meant neither of them trusted Kali a bit.

They were absolutely right not to, of course.

“It’s been awhile since we last met,” Gabriel said evasively. “Lots of things have changed.” Mostly him, but he wasn’t going to say that.

“And you think I have?” Kali looked amused, which for her was more along the lines of “no longer obviously frowning.”

“Well…”

Both of them noticed the newcomer, and they turned simultaneously to try and see who had shown up. Rhodey made a surprised noise, but Gabriel’s attention was on the woman by the doors.

She wasn’t by the doors for long. As soon as she realized she’d been spotted, she was by the table in an instant, snapping a chair over to the empty spot at the end and sitting down angrily.

“What the  _hell_ do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.

Gabriel could feel his fingernails biting into his palm. He gazed coolly back. “Nice seeing you too, Frigg.”

“Don’t pull that,” Frigg snapped, ignoring the reactions of the three humans at the table. “ _Answer_ me, Loki, what are you thinking, releasing them—”

“ _Freeing_ them,” Gabriel retorted, refusing to let her finish.

“They were put there for a reason—”

“They were put there because a witch told Odin what she saw and he got paranoid,” Gabriel hissed, leaning forward abruptly and slamming his hand onto the table. Kali was eyeing him warily. “For someone so smart he sure as hell acted like he’d never heard of a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

“You don’t know that it wouldn’t have happened anyway,” Frigg shot back.

“After  _that_ it was a hell of a lot more likely!”

“Then  _what are you planning_?”

“It’s called being a nice person without having ulterior motives,” Gabriel said. “I doubt you’ve heard of it.”

“I don’t need a repeat of your stupid little stunt in Ægir’s hall,” Frigg said coldly. Gabriel knew at least two people at the table were making a mental note about the “stunt” and filing it away to ask about later, but at the moment he really didn’t care.

“I don’t need  _you_ here and yet…” Gabriel gestured expansively towards Frigg.

“If you didn’t want to deal with us then  _maybe_  you should have considered not breaking into our realm.” Frigg very visibly collected herself and sat up, ramrod straight, in the chair. “I want to know what you’re planning. Cut the crap, Loki.”

“You first.” Gabriel leaned back upright slowly. “You’re here because you want to know what  _they’re_ planning. None of them have any designs on Asgard.”

“I find that a  _little_ hard to believe.”

“Maybe it would be easier if you hadn’t spent so long convincing yourself that you were the good guys,” Gabriel said acidly.

“You didn’t seem to have a problem with our supposed lack of morality when you were  _involved_.”

“When  _I_ was involved you didn’t  _chain up kids_.”

“Do you care when children are involved, or just  _your_ children—?”

“How  _dare_ you—”

“Enough!” When  _Kali_ slammed her hands down on the table, it shook – and so did most of the windows in the restaurant. The humans went about obliviously. The three at the table had been very still for a while and appeared to have adopted the “if I don’t move, they probably won’t notice me” method of camouflage.

Frigg and Gabriel looked at her, furious but wary.

“Enough,” Kali repeated, deadly quiet. “If you _must_ have this argument, have it somewhere where  _I_ am not stuck between you. You—” She stabbed one finger at Frigg. “If you could take three seconds to think, you’d know the  _last_ thing he would do is let his children anywhere near you. I wouldn’t be surprised if he spirits them off to wherever he’s been hiding all these years. Are you  _finished,_ or do I have to leave?”

Gabriel could practically  _see_ Frigg’s internal struggle between continuing to try and rip him a new one and heeding Kali’s (fairly kindly given) warning. No matter what pantheon a god was in, nobody liked to mess with Kali, and barely anyone was stupid enough to do it on purpose.

“If I so much as  _hear_ of anything—” Frigg began darkly.

“I’ll be sure to imagine various painful fates,” Gabriel cut her off.

“Oh, you’d  _wish_ we were only as imaginative as the dwarves.”

Gabriel jolted up out of his seat with a scowl, Frigg’s parting comment being the  _last straw_ of what he could take from her right now. Frigg vanished with a snap of magic, and Kali shoved him back into his seat.

“ _You’re welcome_ ,” Kali said, staring him down, “for helping you avoid a fistfight.  _Stay._ ”

Gabriel crossed his arms and turned away from Kali to look out the window. “Wouldn’t have been much of a fistfight,” he muttered. But punching her would have felt more satisfying than just snapping his fingers. There was something about the physicality of the action that was better than the metaphysical nature of using Grace.

“You wouldn’t risk them like that.” Kali gave the three humans sitting at the other end of the table a meaningful glance.

Jaw tightening, Gabriel didn’t respond beyond a sharp inhalation. Any fight between him and Frigg would have doubtlessly brought the restaurant down, putting every single human here at risk. No matter how good punching Frigg might have felt, it wasn’t worth that risk. “You didn’t show up here to stop a fight,” he said eventually, the words curt. “Did you really just stop by to check if I was going to start Ragnarok?”

Kali’s lips thinned, her eyes glittering suspiciously briefly before she blinked. “I had to be certain. You angels are difficult to read.”

“Not that difficult when you get right down to it.” Gabriel carefully flexed his fingers, working the tension out. “You think you could’ve done anything if I  _had_  been intending to end the world?” The words were wry.

Kali just looked at him, eyes inscrutable. There was a slight prick at his elbow, barely noticeable unless one was paying attention.

Gabriel gave her a flat look, lips thinning. “The same trick doesn’t work twice on me. You want to try that again, Kali?”

“Nothing, then.” Kali looked away, hands still in clear view. There was no sign that she had just tried to take a drop of Gabriel’s blood again. He didn’t want to know what would have happened if she’d succeeded with this particular vessel, since this was actually his body.

“No, you’re not that fatalistic.” Gabriel leaned in closer, knee bumping against hers. “You had a reason for coming here and it wasn’t just to check up on the status of Ragnarok.”

“Because you  _died_ ,” Kali hissed, head snapping around to glare at Gabriel. “You died and came back, even though angels  _don’t_. And then you were gone again, somewhere I couldn’t see you. So when I could finally locate you, I wasn’t going to let this chance go.”

“And use it for what?”

Kali didn’t respond immediately, her mouth turning downward as she met Gabriel’s eyes. “To see for my own eyes that you really were alive. We had something, Loki. Something like that isn’t easily brushed aside.”

Gabriel arched an eyebrow. “You didn’t seem to care much when you tried to kill me.”

“Because you  _lied_ ,” Kali hissed. “And something had to be done.”

“For the record, killing an archangel isn’t the best way of trying to go up against another archangel, especially since I wasn’t trying to hurt any of you. None of what we had was a lie, Kali.”

“You were a lie.”

“Nah.” Gabriel gave her a lopsided grin that was slightly feral at the edges. “I’m Loki, Kali. Regardless of who I was before and who I am now, that won’t ever change.”

A moment passed before a slow bitter smile crossed Kali’s face. “Your way with words hasn’t changed, but you have. Humanity is all around you, Loki.”

Gabriel glanced over at his silent friends before meeting Kali’s eyes again. “Is that so bad? I regret a lot of things, but that? I don’t regret being a little human.”

There was a distinct wave of “damn right” that came from his friends, though none of them actually said anything.

Kali’s eyes flickered between him and the others, something like resignation settling in them. “You aren’t staying.”

Gabriel shook his head minutely. “This place isn’t home anymore. I came here to get my kids, and I’m leaving with them. Asgard can fuck off.”

“And what of your friends?” Kali challenged. “You had a life here.”

Gabriel ignored the twinge in his chest. “Had,” he repeated. “It’s been a while. Things have changed. I doubt I have many friends left other than the ones that aren’t from here.”

Kali side-eyed the three he’d brought along. “And they’re worth it, over trying again here?”

“Absolutely.”

Rhodey looked ridiculously pleased. Kali side-eyed the group of humans harder, looking for all the world like she thought if she could stare hard enough the mystery of Gabriel’s fondness for them would answer itself.

“If you’re sure,” she said, mistrust clear in her tone

When she left, she left behind a humid breeze just on the far side of too hot, and the faintest scent of something that Gabriel had only ever smelled around her. Maybe it was perfume, or some kind of flower. He’d never figured it out.

“That was an experience,” Natasha said. James snorted a laugh, one hand coming up to cover his mouth as if on a reflex.

It was like he’d broken some kind of tension. The three of them relaxed, sitting marginally more casually in their seats. Rhodey gave Gabriel a Look.

“I didn’t understand half of the conversation that just happened but I’m pretty sure I should be thanking somebody that neither of those two did anything to us,” he said.

“You’re below Kali’s notice, by her reckoning,” Gabriel said, turning to look out the window. Two gods – two old ex-friends – was two more than he was willing to deal with. Especially when one of them had been Frigg.

It wasn’t like he’d forgotten everything he used to like about his old pantheon. But he’d put it behind him. For a reason, he reminded himself. Whatever his relationship with them had been, before, he’d had a reason – a good one – to put that all aside.

“Tones?” Rhodey questioned, and the old nickname pulled Gabriel out of his thoughts.

“I’m good.”

“Uh-huh,” Rhodey said, in his yeah-sure-you-are voice that he’d had years to perfect.

“I dunno about you,” James said, “but I’m about ready to head back. I’ve been sitting here getting silently menaced by a goddess, I think that means I deserve a rest.”

Back to the bunker, or back to the right universe? Gabriel was still reluctant to go, if it meant leaving behind even one of the kids with no guarantee that the idea from earlier would pan out.

He got up anyway. “Fine by me. I only came here to talk to Kali anyway.”

He snapped his fingers.

All three of them were making the same kind of face when they landed back in the bunker – the kind of face that suggested they were both fed up and mildly nauseous.

“ _Really_? _”_ Rhodey complained. “We just went over this, Tony.”

Gabriel faked a grin that vanished as soon as he turned around, meaning to go find somewhere private or possibly see how the period-drama adventure had gone with the kids. Natasha didn’t seem to want to let him leave without giving them answers.

“Who’s Ægir?” She asked. Gabriel didn’t  _quite_ stop in his tracks.

“A god,” he said eventually, turning back around. “Rán’s husband.”

“Rán? The sea lady?” James said. “Huh. Wouldn’t think she married.”

“It would have been weird if she hadn’t, back then,” Gabriel said, half-hoping to derail the conversation Natasha had started.

“You ever meet him?” Natasha asked.

“I knew  _of_ him more than I knew him.”

“I can’t imagine him being super close to anybody if he’s down at the bottom of the ocean with Rán,” Rhodey said. “Except for her, maybe.”

James nodded sagely. “Doesn’t seem too sociable.”

Gabriel made a vague shrugging motion. He didn’t have much of an opinion on Ægir. One memorable incident at his hall didn’t mean he’d  _known_ the guy very well. “Maybe he’s a private guy.” He turned back around again and left before anyone could ask anything else.

He found an unoccupied, private room that was fairly far down in the bunker, but it didn’t  _stay_ private for long; he’d hardly tried to hide his return, and Fenris had apparently figured out doorknobs even in wolf form. He padded over to Gabriel, not bothering to close the door, and curled up in a large furry ball, half on Gabriel’s lap.

“Get bored of socializing?” Gabriel asked, scratching behind Fenris’s ear. Fenris made a low rumbling noise that wasn’t quite a growl, evidently pleased by the attention.

Gabriel closed the door with a snap of his fingers (on the other hand). Even without reaching out his senses to check, he could guess what the others were up to: looking up Ægir, no doubt, or something along the lines of “stories with Loki and dwarves.”

He’d rather avoid  _that_ fallout as long as possible.

His temper was still simmering from the altercation with Frigg, but around one of his kids Gabriel was more inclined to try and keep it in check. Not that he liked Fenris more than he did Rhodey or any of the others, even though parents were probably allowed to be biased, but none of them had gotten this close so fearlessly.

And Fenris had dealt with enough. Gabriel didn’t want to snap at him for something Frigg had done.

Fenris didn’t try to talk to him, although that was most likely because he still hadn’t worked out how to talk while in wolf form. He did make a whiny noise whenever Gabriel stopped petting him, which spoke volumes about his priorities.

Gabriel could feel scars, underneath Fenris’s fur, where chains had dug in for centuries. His fur was more ragged in some places, lighter in others where it hadn’t been bound quite as tightly. Some of it was too old for Gabriel to have fixed, though his attention  _had_ …wandered a little, when he’d first gotten Fenris out. He’d been so fixated on Fenris he couldn’t concentrate well enough to  _heal_ Fenris.

Fenris made a high, inquisitive noise, and Gabriel belatedly realized he’d let his hand fall to the side while his mind wandered.

“Sorry, kid.”

Surprisingly, Fenris shook his hand away when Gabriel tried to keep giving him scratches. He sat up, giving Gabriel a narrow look. With a movement like he was shaking off water, Fenris shifted into his human form, still sprawled over Gabriel.

“ _What happened?_ ” he asked, sitting up to curl up against Gabriel’s chest, leaning his head into the dip of Gabriel’s shoulders. “ _You’re upset. And you smell like Kali._ ” There was a slight hesitation, as if he also smelled Frigg but didn’t want to mention it.

“Yeah, I had a visit from her. Wanted to be sure I wasn’t about to start Ragnarok or anything.” Gabriel wrapped an arm around Fenris’s torso, pulling him in more tightly and pressing his cheek into Fenris’s hair. “Went pretty well, actually,” he added a moment later. “We both lost our temper a little, but nothing was destroyed.”

“ _She’s not telling anyone, is she?_ ” Fenris sounded worried.

“Nah, kiddo. We’ll be fine.” Gabriel tightened his grip reassuringly. “In any case, Asgard’s aware of what’s happening, but that’s not going to be an issue now either.”

Fenris tilted his head up, eyeing Gabriel curiously. “ _Did you scare them off?_ ”

“I wish.” Gabriel’s lips twisted as he remembered Frigg. “They’re not happy, but everything’s fine. They’re not getting you guys, I promise.”

Tucking his head back into the crook of Gabriel’s neck, Fenris slumped into his side. “ _Okay,_ ” he murmured. “ _I trust you._ ”

After how badly he’d messed up, Gabriel couldn’t even begin to express how much it meant that Fenris could say that so easily. Chest painfully tight, Gabriel pressed his lips into Fenris’s hair.

The least he could do now was figure out how to get Hel home as well.

* * *

Thankfully no one actually walked up to him the next day and started asking questions about what they’d found out regarding Loki and dwarves or anything else about deep sea gods. Gabriel wasn’t too sure how he would’ve handled that, but it was easy enough to ignore the sidelong glances and Rhodey’s lips occasionally twitching before he looked away.

Sure, he’d gotten up to some weird things back in the day, but it wasn’t like the Avengers were any different regarding their everyday lives. Or some of the villains they faced.

They had a villain called Batroc the  _Leaper_  who regularly went up against Steve trying to out-jump him. Which always failed miserably since Steve could go circles around him and had done so before finally bagging him and taking him to the proper authorities.

If they wanted to go even further into Norse mythology, they’d come across some not-so-good things that he also had no desire to explain. Things had been different back then;  _he’d_  been different, and he’d gotten tired of having to justify his actions to a group of humans with a completely different moral compass.

In fact, he was at the point where he didn’t care anymore and just didn’t bother with it. They didn’t think the same way, so there was no conceivable reason that they’d understand.

What Gabriel did do was make sure the three kids had food before stealing some potatoes from Rhodey’s plate and saying, “So, I’ve got a plan.”

“Does this plan involve you not stealing more of my potatoes?” Rhodey asked, tugging his plate closer to his chest. “I will use the mayo.”

Gabriel made a face. “What – ugh. Don’t do that.”

“Then stop stealing my potatoes, man.” Rhodey poked his hand with a fork when Gabriel tried again. “ _Mayo_.”

“What’s the plan?” Natasha interrupted.

“Well, it’s not a whole plan yet.” Gabriel shrugged. “It involves fast talking, but it also depends on that Hel’s temperament. Whole thing could go down the drain if I don’t approach this right.”

“Why don’t you just toss her in a bag and then drag her over here? You’re good at that shit,” Dean said.

“I’m not saying I’m not tempted – because I am – but that wouldn’t solve anything except to have two goddesses pissed off at me. That kind of transfer of power needs to be done willingly, even if it is just basically relocating from one Niflheim to the other.”

“It sounds a lot more complicated than that,” Sam said slowly.

Gabriel shot him a wry look. “You want me to get into the nitty-gritty details about how the whole thing works? English doesn’t have all the words I need for this, and it involves concepts you can’t wrap your head around since you don’t have an understanding of what it entails. So the simplified version that you guys can understand is ‘Hey, let’s move! Here’s my stuff and there’s yours. Let’s swap places.’”

Sam made a face, but he didn’t demand the details, which was an acceptable compromise.

“Is this something you should be talking to this universe’s Hel about?” Natasha asked. “She is pretty closely involved in all this.”

“I’ll drop her a line or something.” He was pretty sure Hel had vanished back into her realm, but he could work something out. He’d gotten into the realm of the dead once before.

…Maybe he’d just send a superfast letter or something, this time.

“But other than that, we’re pretty much done here?” Rhodey finished hopefully.

“Yeah, yeah. We’ve got everybody, I just needed to figure some stuff out with them first.” Gabriel waved a hand dismissively.

“ _Hel’s coming?_ ” Sleipnir asked hopefully, making the other two (who probably hadn’t understood a word of the conversation) perk up.

“If I can manage it,” Gabriel replied, switching to Allspeak. “And you know me, even if it doesn’t work out I’ll keep trying until I  _can_ manage it.”

That pulled a grin out of Sleipnir. Jormungandr had bolted his food and then curled up in a snakey pile with his head resting on the table, but he probably would have smiled, too.

“ _But not now?_ ” Fenris asked, looking like he was hoping he might be wrong.

“I don’t think so,” Gabriel said apologetically. “It’s more complicated with Hel than it was with you three. But nothing’s stopping me from coming back here, if I need to.”

Fenris looked only slightly mollified. “ _Are we leaving **now**?_ ”

“Not if you don’t want to.”

“It’s still awkward only getting half of a conversation,” Rhodey muttered.

“No one’s stopping you from learning Norse.” Gabriel gently elbowed him. “Time to expand your repertoire, maybe?”

“If I tried to learn Old Norse,  _you’d_ insist on teaching me,” Rhodey replied. “And no offense, but that’s never happening.”

“Rhodey, you wound me!”

“You tried to teach Bain from MIT a couple phrases in Italian,” Rhodey reminded him. “Remember how that went?” He made a face.

“I was  _sixteen,_ ” Tony protested.

“Don’t remind me. What did you even see in her?”

“Wait,” Dean said, looking interested, “what happened? You don’t mean  _Sunset Bain_ , do you?”

“Don’t,” Tony warned, twitching slightly at the memory of her.

“I wasn’t going to,” Rhodey retorted. “You think I want to tell that story either?”

“Now I’m _really_ interested,” Dean said.

“You’re not increasing your chances of being told,” Tony informed him. He stood up, making Natasha’s attention sharpen. James, who might possibly have been asleep the whole time, flinched like a guy getting elbowed into waking up. He didn’t make any noise, though, which was impressive.

“What can I bribe you with?” Dean leaned across the table towards Rhodey. Sam snorted.

“I’d tell you if I hadn’t gotten involved in that whole fiasco, too,” Rhodey sighed. “Can we end this conversation?”

“You’re the one who brought it up, sweet cheeks,” Tony said, grinning at Rhodey.

The grin faded when thunder rumbled outside. It sounded like a storm had broken directly over the bunker. Everyone at the table looked up, nearly in sync.

Everyone except Jormungandr, that was, who had bolted out of his chair and wound himself around Gabriel’s legs.

“A thunderstorm?” Sam frowned at the sky – or rather, the ceiling. Dean was frowning at the hurriedly-vacated seats where Fenris and Sleipnir used to be.

Gabriel leaned down to gently disentangle Jormungandr. “Keep an eye on your brother for me,” he said, handing him over to Fenris.

“Gabriel?”

“I’ll only be a minute,” Gabriel said, and turned towards the door.

* * *

**Rekha Sharma as Kali**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've got a picture this time, too, since Kali is an actual canon character!
> 
> Do I have a song for Kali? No, but I have a pretty cool song from a Bollywood movie that I listen to to get into the right mood to write her. It's called Silsila Ye Chaahat Ka; YouTube has a couple pretty good videos, but I think the best one can be found under my 'bollywood' tag @wizard-fallen-angel (I swear I don't mean to keep promo'ing my blog, that's seriously the best video I've found).
> 
> I was going to do a picture for Frigg, but alas, my artist markers are in a different country (as of this being posted, only in a different state) and so I can't right now, but I might upload one later. Keep an eye out for post-posting edits!
> 
> _About Kali...I **really** wanted to put her in  Redemption, but it just didn't work out. Anyway, that convo is pretty much what I would've wanted to have in there if I could've fit her in. But since it didn't fit in that story, it fit in here! They deserved one last talk after what happened in Hammer of the Gods._
> 
> _Also...Sunset Bain...is not a character in MCU as far as I know, but she is one in Marvel comics in the 616 canon. And she's an asshole. Tony's still freaked out by her in comics, even years later._


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh you KNOW who's about to show up :D
> 
> _I mean, we weren't even subtle..._

It was pouring rain outside, which was entirely unsurprising, and also incredibly petty of Thor.

None of the rain touched Gabriel, of course. A child could have made a simple shield to keep a storm at bay.

A child with godly powers, that was.

And speaking of…

“All right, you asshole,” Gabriel shouted, glaring around at the scenery. “Are you here to actually do anything, or to be passive-aggressive at me?”

Lightning cracked above him in response. Gabriel faintly heard the door of the bunker creak open.

“Tony, what the  _hell_!” Rhodey shouted at him, standing inside the doorway to avoid the rain.

Gabriel groaned internally and was about to turn around when thunder rolled so loudly the  _ground_ shook.

He flung out a hand, shoving the door closed and locking it with a thought, and Thor crashed down in front of him.

“Great entrance,” Gabriel told him, fixing him with his best unimpressed look. “I give it an A-plus for style but an F for being a dick.”

“You,” Thor said threateningly, pointing Mjölnir at Gabriel. “Where is the serpent?”

“You forgot to say ‘please,’” Gabriel said. “It’s the magic word.”

“I did not come to  _joke_  with you, Loki!”

“That’s a shame, since until you’re actually willing to treat Jormungandr like an actual sentient being, I’m not dealing with you.”

Thor scoffed. “You expect me to leave at your word when you’ve done  _this_ —”

“Zero points for listening skills,” Gabriel said loudly, cutting him off. “I am so sick of this, okay, I just had this  _exact_ conversation with your mother.” He put a hand to his chin, faking surprise. “Oh, wait, Frigg isn’t—”

“That joke was old centuries ago,” Thor growled.

Gabriel pretended to consider that. Eventually he shrugged. “Nah, it’s still good. I mean, you guys are still going around and saying my kids are all mindless animals that are just going to decide to end the world one day, so what’s one little bastard joke?”

“It was  _prophesied_ —”

“Prophecy, schmophecy.” Gabriel made a show of pulling out a book (conjured into existence at that exact moment) and then ripping it into pieces. “Fate,  _wyrd_ , whatever – it’s what you make of it, and you guys walked right into it.” He paused briefly, hoping Atropos hadn’t actually heard him make light of her job.

When she didn’t show up to hit him with her clipboard, he continued speaking. “I mean,  _would_  they have done anything? Probably not, but then you guys just decided to lock them all up. What would you do if you were locked up for something you  _might_  do in the future? Get really mad? Decide to end the world? It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, but it’s only self-fulfilling if you  _choose to think of it as true_. And I’m tearing out the pages and saying no. It’s worked for the humans, so I figure it’s worth another shot or two.”

Thor glared, readjusting his grip on Mjölnir. “You know how that prophecy was revealed to Odin,” he spat.

“Of course I know, I was there! So were  _you,_ so don’t go pretending like you’re the one who told me.”

“The vǫlva knew what she spoke of,” Thor continued, like Gabriel hadn’t spoken. “Dead or no—”

“Actually, I think the dead thing plays a  _very_ large part in this,” Gabriel interrupted.

“The dead cannot lie.”

“She knew  _one_ truth,” Gabriel retorted. “ _One_ might-have-been that your father  _made_ true, in his infinite wisdom.” He did his best to say “wisdom” as disdainfully as possible. “And if you had any idea at all about the future, then you’d know that it’s not fixed. Anyone who tries looking into it is liable to get a really bad headache and maybe fry their eyeballs. Or die.” He waggled his eyebrows meaningfully.

“Frigg could do it,” Thor rumbled, glaring meaningfully.

“ _Frigg_ is a goddess who is capable of exerting a measure of self-restraint,” Gabriel said. “Unlike  _certain_ gods who like to throw  _tantrums_ to make themselves look impressive—”

“Your silver tongue has rusted with age if  _that_ is the best you can come up with,” Thor scoffed.

Gabriel’s lips thinned, his eyes narrowing. “Well, die a time or two, come back to life, let’s see what you deal with, hm?” he said quietly. “I’ve little patience to deal with you and your ilk, Thor. Frigg is fully aware of what I’m doing here, and if you’d like to keep your head on your shoulders, then I suggest you run back to Asgard and  _stay_  there.”

“Not until I know what you plan to do with the Midgard Serpent,” Thor snapped.

The venom behind the epithet exhausted the last drops of Gabriel’s patience. “Whatever he wants to do,” he hissed. “Without  _you_ getting in the way because of your ‘ _fate_.’ I don’t know if you noticed, but it’s summer here, Thor. There’s no Fimbulvinter, no omens. Whatever you came here to do, your own reasoning is flawed.  _Get the fuck out_.” He didn’t wait for Thor to leave, snapping his fingers and roughly depositing him in the vicinity of Asgard. He could figure it out from there. The rain petered off as soon as Thor was gone.

Then, taking a few seconds to breathe until he’d calmed down, Gabriel let the door to the bunker open. “Okay, coast clear.”

“Don’t  _pun_  at me,” Rhodey said sharply, glaring pointedly at the water pooled all around them.

“I’ll pun however I want.”

“You can do whatever the hell you want after you tell us why you locked us in the bunker while you were out  _here_.” Rhodey folded his arms, glaring at Gabriel. “ _Thor_ , Tony? Really?”

“Eavesdropping isn’t nice, you know,” Gabriel told James, sighing.

“There wasn’t any eavesdropping involved,” James said, shrugging.

“We lived with Loki, remember?” Natasha said. “And Thor brought a lot of rain whenever he got overly emotional. It’s easy enough to put the pieces together.”

“You wanted to meet that asshole?” Gabriel glanced at the spot where Thor had been, making a face when he felt the familiar sensation of a god traveling. He shoved at the offending presence, kicking them back in the direction they’d come from. “Really? Take it from me. You’re better off without.”

“It takes an asshole to know an asshole,” Dean said from the bunker’s door, raising an eyebrow at the water pooled at the bottom of the staircase.

“Ha, ha,” Gabriel grumbled, stalking past him. “We’re going. Now. I am  _not_ hanging around waiting for any other old pals to come wandering by and start yelling.”

“You taking them right now?” Rhodey asked.

“I’m not leaving  _them_ here to deal with that, either.” Gabriel could pinpoint their presence in the bunker easily; Coyote had long since vanished, but he wouldn’t be that offended if Gabriel left without saying goodbye. He’d leave a short note for Sam and Dean to pass on to Hel, and whatever  _his_ universe had to offer by way of afterlife goddesses, he’d deal with it when he got back.

“So that’s it, then?” Natasha seemed vaguely surprised, which was surprising in itself. “You’re just leaving?”

“For now.” Gabriel closed his eyes, unable to resist sending his consciousness down the tree to where Niflheim lay. “But I’ll be back soon enough.”

* * *

Even though they’d left somewhere around midday, it was nighttime when Gabriel landed them safely in the penthouse of the tower.

“Welcome home, sir,” JARVIS said, making all three boys jump in surprise. “Shall I alert the team you’ve returned?”

“Nah, let ’em sleep,” Gabriel said, flopping onto the nearest couch.

“Man,” Rhodey said. “What time is it? I’m gonna get jet lag.”

“Inter-dimensional jet lag,” Natasha mused. “That’s a new one.”

“I’m sure it’ll be a learning experience,” Gabriel said dryly. Jormungandr slid onto his lap and curled up, still a little nervous from his close brush with Thor. Gabriel was beginning to suspect that he knew perfectly well how he and Thor were “prophesied” to have ended up.

“Are we back on the same day that we left?” Natasha asked. “Or did you slide us forward by a week or so?”

“JARVIS?”

“It is currently two in the morning on the same day you left.”

“Nice,” Gabriel said under his breath. “I’m definitely getting the hang of this.”

“You say that and it sounds like you’re still learning about traveling between dimensions,” Rhodey said. “Does that mean we could’ve been lost in-between dimensions?”

“I’ve traveled between dimensions more often with you guys than I have in my entire life before being Tony Stark,” Gabriel said. “It’s unlikely that I would’ve lost you anywhere; angels are practically designed to transcend space and time, which includes dimensions. But yeah, mostly I was working from theory.”

“I would’ve liked to be told  _that_ before we left,” James muttered.

“You’re fine, we’re home safe, it’s all good. You never have to take another trip if you don’t want to. You weren’t even supposed to come on  _this_  one. You volunteered yourself, remember?”

“No, others volunteered  _me_.”

“I distinctly remember you volunteering after  _I_ said I wanted to go,” Natasha said.

“I wasn’t going to let you go off  _alone_!”

“Hey,” Rhodey protested, affronted. “What am I – chopped liver?”

“I’m nonexistent, apparently,” Gabriel muttered, stroking a gentle hand down Jormungandr’s scales.

“You’re good,” James was telling Rhodey, “but not  _that_  good.”

“Do I need to beat you down in the gym again before you realize that I’m better than you?” Natasha sounded thoroughly unimpressed.

“We’re better together,” James argued, clearly possessing absolutely no self-preservation instincts.

“Okay, you guys have fun discussing the fine points of why you guys decided to go.” Gabriel shot them all a grin. “I’m going to go and run a quick errand.”

“Where are you going?” Sleipnir asked, mild panic in his tone.

Switching to the Allspeak, Gabriel answered, “I need to arrange some things to make sure that Hel can come over here. It won’t take me long, I promise. It’s safe here.” He glanced over to the doorway, raising a hand to wave a silent Gadreel in. “Gadreel over there won’t let anything happen.”

Fenris gave him a mistrustful look. “ _Another angel?_ ”

“ _I wish you no harm,_ ” Gadreel told him gently, only slightly stiff as he looked between the three. “ _You are Gabriel’s._ ”

“See?” Gabriel slowly dislodged Jormungandr so he could stand. “Gadreel’ll help keep an eye on things. And you guys will meet the others as soon as they realize they have guests. It’ll take a bit before they get the hang of Norse, but give them a base to work off of and they’ll go from there.”

None of them said anything, but the trepidation on their faces spoke volumes. After a moment, Gabriel crouched and stroked his fingers through Fenris’s ruff, keeping his other hand on Jormungandr. “I can get JARVIS to keep them out until I’m back. How’s that sound?” he asked gently. “We’ve got an empty room or two that you guys can hide out in. Just let Gadreel know if you need something.”

“That sounds better,” Sleipnir said, sounding relieved. “Thanks.”

“Sure thing.” Gabriel lifted Jormungandr, giving Gadreel a quick nod and pointedly ignoring the smiles on the others’ faces. “C’mon. I’ll show you where you can bunk for the night. The bed should be big enough for all of you.”

He headed to his own room, but had to stop the boys from going inside once seeing who was already in there. Honestly, Gabriel should have expected the bots to already be taking up most of the space in his bed. That the two cats were cuddled up on top of them was also unsurprising.

“All right,” he sighed, as the three boys peered curiously around him. “Plan B, maybe.”

“Who’s that?” Sleipnir whispered.

“I  _know_ I mentioned your newer siblings.” Gabriel gently herded them out of the doorway, and the door swung shut with a soft click behind them. “You can talk to ’em in the morning. Maybe one at a time. They can be overwhelming all at once.”

Plan B consisted of one of the rare empty guest rooms that he had allocated for the occasional guest. That room was indeed empty, so he left the boys in there to their own devices and let Gadreel know where they were.

It wasn’t very likely that they’d ask for help from an unknown angel, but it was good to have that backup plan in case things went awry. In the very  _remote_  possibility that something happened.

None of them objected to sharing the (large) bed, but Fenris had to be lured away from the windows. It was a pretty stunning view, if Gabriel did say so himself. New York at night was lit up, and the river was  _just_ visible between some of the buildings.

Once the boys were set up, Gabriel left before anyone else could hold him back. He  _really_  wasn’t looking forward to going to Niffleheim again, but some things had to be done.

He just had to hope that he could handle it better this time. Maybe after already experiencing it once it wouldn’t be so bad this time.

Preparation was half the battle, wasn’t it?

With a slow exhale, Gabriel stopped in front of the gate. Only to run headfirst into a line of Enochian sigils that flared green.

Scrambling back, Gabriel shook off the lingering tendrils of Loki’s magic, turning his head to give an impassive Loki a bland stare. “Really?”

Loki tilted his head slightly, eyes narrowing. “You must be distracted if you fell for such an obvious trap.”

“Well, you know. Parenthood. Suddenly got about twice as many people to worry about.” Gabriel shrugged nonchalantly, but he really  _had_ run straight into it without noticing. That kind of attitude was not going to help with this universe’s Hel.

“Hm.” Loki didn’t seem impressed with that answer. “Naturally. Yet you will still walk straight into Niffleheim?”

Gabriel glanced towards the entrance, brushing aside Loki’s magic with a wave of his hand. “I’ve got something I need to do.” He turned back to him. “Why  _are_  you here?”

“Your absence was noted.” Loki rubbed his fingers together seemingly absentmindedly.

“You mean Rhodey called you up and told you what I was planning.”

Loki’s eyebrow twitched briefly before his face smoothed out. “After what happened in your old universe, you are once again walking unaided into Niffleheim? And you would bargain with Hela, knowing nothing of who she is.”

Hel _a_? Huh. Apparently Frigg wasn’t the only one whose counterpart had an Anglicized name.

Something of his surprise must have shown on his face, since Loki gave a small smirk. “You did not even know her name, did you? Then you also know nothing of Niffleheim’s atmosphere. Perhaps yours is cold, but Hela’s is more akin to what humans view as Hell.”

“Hot and fiery?”

“Yes.” Loki stepped forward, pulling even with Gabriel, looking into Niffleheim. “You would go alone,” he said quietly, “but you need not do so.”

“You don’t have to come.” Gabriel hesitated briefly. “This doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

“Does it not?” Loki stepped forward, raising a hand and letting wards flare to life with a flicker of his fingers. “You are my friend, and you want your daughter here. I have had dealings with Hela before in my younger days when I was less inclined to responsibility.”

“When you went haring off after Frost Giants, you mean?”

“Before.” Loki’s eyes tightened at the memory, and he shook his head. “In any case, while you may somehow manage to wrangle something with Hela, she is not particularly favorable to those she does not know. Furthermore, your particular style of negotiating may…anger her.”

“You mean I’ll piss her off and she’ll kick me out.” Gabriel pursed his lips, thinking back to his first look at Niffleheim back when he’d first regained his Grace. Hela’s energies hadn’t impressed him then, and now that he was on the edge of her realm’s boundaries, he was even less impressed.

No doubt the Avengers would eventually face down Hela as a villain. If she stuck around in her realm, that was. Hopefully (for two reasons) she wouldn’t.

Loki inclined his head in agreement. “Yes.”

“And she’s less likely to do that if you’re with me.”

“Doubtlessly.”

“Okay.” Gabriel nodded once and clapped a hand on Loki’s shoulder. “Let’s go, then. I’ll let you do the introductions. Poke me or something if I do something wrong.”

Loki’s face was suspiciously blank. “Of course.”

Shooting Loki a narrow-eyed look, Gabriel gestured for him to go first. “Shall we?”

Entering this realm was different than heading into Niflheim in his old universe. There wasn’t a gate so much as a place where their surroundings shifted suddenly from the branches of Yggdrasil to barren land, the air much hotter than Gabriel had expected.

Compared to the freezing chill of Hel’s realm, this was a relief. He could shrug off heat much more easily than cold.

To his surprise, Loki gently touched his elbow reassuringly before walking ahead, picking a seemingly arbitrary direction. After a moment, Gabriel followed, paying attention to their surroundings and the path they took.

The spirits of this realm weren’t particularly interested in investigating the strange visitors wandering through their realm. He did see one or two curious souls, but for the most part they were left alone.

The environment changed at points as well, changing to become darker and gloomier as they traveled deeper into the realm. But it wasn’t half as cold as it had been in the other realm.

“Be respectful and quiet,” Loki told him some time later. “I will let you know when you can present your case.”

Gabriel pulled a face. “There’s a reason I never become a lawyer. What’s her temperament?”

“Calm and yet also volatile. It depends entirely on her current mood and entertainment.” Loki paused, considering. “She is fond of violence.”

Gabriel hummed in acknowledgement, contemplating the angle he could take to persuade Hela to move. Violence was one thing his old universe was good at, although a case could be made for this one, too, considering all the superheroes and supervillains.

“Okay,” he said finally. “Let’s do this.”

Loki gave him a long look, eyes dark, before he nodded. “You can do this,” he assured Gabriel.

Before Gabriel could say anything, Loki moved forwards, rounding a craggy mountainous corner and stopping before a large throne that was carved into the mountain. Sitting upon it was a woman who was unrecognizable to Gabriel, clothed in green and black and with horns jutting out from the black mask covering the upper half of her face. Even with the cover of her clothes and the mask, it was easy to see that both halves of her face were alive.

Loki didn’t bow, but he did incline his head, keeping his eyes on Hela’s face. “Hela.”

“Loki.” Hela’s voice was disdainful. “Who is your companion?”

“This is Gabriel of Midgard, also known as Anthony Stark.” Loki didn’t look back at Gabriel. “You know this.”

“Perhaps I wished to see if you would lie.” Hela’s smile was brief but chilling. “What brings you to my domain, Loki? You are the advisor to the king of Asgard now, are you not?” She said it like it was an insult. “Once you would never have accepted such a position.”

“Advisors can start wars if they wish.” Loki’s smile was thin, his eyes hard. “They can also stop them with the right words. The throne is pretty, but the real power lies behind it.”

“If the person sitting in it listens,” Hela said. She glanced away from Loki, at Gabriel. “You have never come to see me before. What has changed?”

Loki didn’t move, but his stance shifted enough to tell Gabriel that he could speak now. He didn’t need the warning prod of Loki’s magic to tell him to be careful about how he spoke. “I wasn’t going to intrude where I wouldn’t be welcome.”

Hela snorted, smirking derisively. “You thought little of intruding when you passed through before, clearing it of those beasts.”

“Ah, well…” Gabriel shrugged, giving a beatific smile. “Better to ask forgiveness than permission, isn’t it? I didn’t get the impression they were exactly welcome here.” There was a sharp poke from Loki’s magic, although he didn’t move beyond blinking.

“Hm.” Hela said nothing else, eyes narrowing behind her mask. “Then what brings you here now? Surely an archangel of the Lord has no reason to visit the realm of a lowly goddess.”

She’d definitely heard of him then, which wasn’t all that surprising now. Word of the Leviathan and what had happened must have spread via word of mouth.

“Even archangels of the Lord aren’t all-powerful.” Gabriel couldn’t help a wry smile. “And goddesses have power, particularly a goddess of the dead such as you.”

Hela didn’t say anything, but he could tell she was raising an eyebrow behind that mask. There was just something about her that revealed it without anything showing.

Taking a slow breath, Gabriel modulated his tone until it revealed nothing other than what he wanted to show. “My original universe has a realm; similar to yours but different. There have been a few different apocalypses as well.”

Hela did react to that, leaning forwards in interest. “A few  _different_  ones, you say?”

“Yeah, well…” Gabriel shrugged. “Humans will do what they want, as will the gods. And angels. It’s a mess, honestly, too many pantheons sharing the same Earth. And I just dropped by recently, checking up on things. It’s…well…” He laughed, shrugging again and rubbing the back of his head. “I thought this universe had it bad, after the Leviathan, but it’s really got nothing on there.”

Hela fixed him with a narrow-eyed look. “I assume you have a point somewhere in this monologue?”

“I’ve heard a lot about your methods. Good things about how you keep things under control here while also managing things outside of this place, too. Which is really  _awesome_  since I know from the Hel back in the other place that it’s insanely difficult to keep things under control here.”

Loki’s face didn’t show anything, but Gabriel could tell he wanted to do something. From the disbelief radiating from him, it was probably a blank stare.

“What I’m asking…” Gabriel paused, putting on an indecisive face. “I’m saying that place could use a firm hand like yours. The apocalypses are getting a little out of hand. Sure, the first one we had wasn’t too bad, but the ones after that were a little much. The only thing they really accomplished was shaking things out of order even further. It wouldn’t take much to assert yourself.”

Hela didn’t move, except for her hand tapping very slowly on the arm of her throne. “You would like me to put your universe back in order?” If she’d been more expressive, Gabriel might have taken a leap and said she sounded amused. By what, he couldn’t guess – he’d only met her about a minute ago, after all.

“Just because I don’t live there anymore doesn’t mean I don’t care about the people there,” Gabriel said.

“I don’t see why you bother,” Hela said indifferently.

Gabriel shrugged. “That’s the difference between the two of us, I suppose.” He hid a wince when Loki poked him with his magic once more. That he’d worked a little Enochian into it didn’t help. “If you don’t want to do it,” he continued, “that’s fine. I’m sure someone else would be willing to help out. I mean, this universe is chump change compared to that one.” Okay,  _ow_ , Loki. He poked back, deliberately not looking at Loki.

“No one else could look over Niffleheim,” Hela said pointedly. “Who else could you ask but a goddess of the dead?”

“Who said it’s  _Nifflleheim_  that needs to be put back in order? I could easily get someone who’d be willing to look over something else.”

Hela paused for the barest instant. “You mislead me,” she said, not sounding very pleased about it. “What realm do you speak of, then?”

“Helheim, for a start,” Gabriel said plainly. “But, more generally, I’m talking Earth. Or Midgard, if you will. You’re my first choice, but I could find someone else.”

“There is no one else here,” Hela snapped, her temper flaring.

“We’re speaking of multiple universes,” Gabriel replied. “You’re not the only Hel. You may certainly be the most accomplished I’ve met, but not the only one of your name – or position.”

“You tread dangerous grounds, Gabriel.” Hela stood, descending the few steps from her throne until she stood on the same level as him. She was, frustratingly, the tiniest bit taller – or maybe that was the horns on her weird mask thing. “You demand that I move to  _your_  universe, leaving my responsibilities here. What sort of ruler would I be if I did that?”

“A bad one,” Gabriel admitted. He batted aside Loki’s warning prod that felt more peeved than anything else now. At least he was being honest! “I apologize, but I understand where you’re coming from. There is a Hel in my old universe. If you’re willing, I can discuss the matter with her as well.”

“And act as my proxy?” Hela scoffed. “I would see what she had to say myself.”

“And her realm, as well?” Gabriel paused, making it a point to look around. “It’s not as cool as yours.”

“Flattery alone will not persuade me,” Hela said coolly. “What benefits do  _you_ reap from this, Archangel Gabriel? You would not come to me on a whim.”

Gabriel shrugged, doing his best to seem casual. “I liked that Hel,” he answered. “Having met you, I don’t think I would mind quite as much which one of you ruled which, but I thought I would propose the idea to you nonetheless.” He let his stance go loose. “The decision is up to you. I can go find someone else if you’d rather not.”

Hela’s quick response was more telling than if she’d decided to say nothing at all. “I did not give you an answer yet.”

Gabriel didn’t speak, raising his eyebrows inquiringly.

“I will consider your proposition,” Hela said after a moment, her earlier aggression fading.

“Thank you.” Gabriel refrained from saying anything like “that’s nice of you” – he wasn’t sure how well implying that she was nice would go over. “If you wish to talk, you’re welcome to drop by, although a warning in advance would be appreciated.”

There was a look on Hela’s face that signaled she’d taken that suggestion and filed it away somewhere to be forgotten. Or maybe that look meant she was going to do the exact opposite to prove a point. Gabriel had met plenty of people like that before.

Well, no one could say he hadn’t tried.

“If you’ll excuse us?” Gabriel put a hand on Loki’s shoulder in preparation to leave, but waited for Hela to nod sharply before he took off.

“I find I will never get used to that feeling,” Loki sighed, when they landed.

“Join the club, I’ve heard they have meetings where they complain,” Gabriel said. “It might just be Clint, though.”

Loki tilted his head. “Actually…I have heard similar complaints from your other friends. Although Steven refrains from doing so even in private.”

“I’m being secretly ganged up on,” Gabriel complained.

“I’m sure your children will take your side,” Loki said dryly. “Before you go to do whatever else it is you have planned, shall I call Heimdall or do you mind dropping me back home?”

“I should let you catch your own ride.” Gabriel tightened his grip on Loki’s shoulder. “But since I’m nice like that, I’ll drop you back.”

Loki fixed him with a carefully blank look. “How kind of you.”

“That’s me.” Gabriel grinned at him, taking off in the next second. Loki’s pained face was a treasure.

Heimdall only raised his eyebrows when they landed. “Thor wondered where you had gone,” he rumbled. “You returned quickly – both of you,” he added, fixing his golden-eyed stare on Gabriel.

“From your perspective,” Gabriel said, flashing a grin and trying to quell thoughts of another, distinctly less friendly Heimdall. He let his hand drop from Loki’s shoulder, giving him a nod. “Thanks for helping out. Say hi to Thor for me?”

There was a short pause from Loki where he gave Gabriel an unreadable look. Eventually he just nodded. “I wish you luck,” he offered. “I look forward to meeting your newest acquisitions.”

“They’ll probably be incredibly confused by you,” Gabriel said, smile growing a little more honest. “I’m looking forward to it, too, believe me.”

Loki’s answering smile was mischievous. “Mischief  _is_  our trade, is it not?”

“Trade, hobby, general reputation…same thing.” Gabriel turned his gaze sideways, noting the rising sun back on Earth. “I should get back before they’re swarmed by curious well-wishers. Feel free to drop by anytime. Thor’s welcome, too, as long as he keeps Mjölnir out of sight and keeps relatively quiet.”

Loki’s answering face said full well what he thought of Thor’s ability to be quiet.

“Yeah,” Gabriel sighed. “That’s what I thought.” Taking a step back, he nodded to Heimdall and gave Loki a quick wave before heading back home.

He’d done what he could. Now he just had to wait and hope.

* * *

Given the early morning, Gabriel hadn’t actually expected anyone to keep him company, but Rhodey plopped himself down next to him on the couch, yawning widely.

“The fact that you don’t sleep anymore is a pain,” Rhodey told him, rubbing his eyes.

“No one said you had to be up at this time.” Gabriel eyed him curiously. “Why  _are_  you up now?”

“My sleep schedule is completely whacked, that’s why.” Rhodey covered his next yawn with a hand. “Anyway, I had something I wanted to talk to you about. It’s best said away from prying ears.”

“O…kay?” Gabriel couldn’t help the suspicion.

“Don’t look at me like that. It’s nothing bad.” Rhodey paused, considering. “Or maybe it is, since you hate talking about it normally.”

“I talk about everything.”

“You bluster; you don’t necessarily  _talk_.” Rhodey gave him an amused smile. “I get it if you don’t want to talk about it now, but I’d like some answers considering I heard one side of the story from Dean and Sam.”

Gabriel couldn’t help but wonder  _what_  exactly the brothers had told Rhodey. “What story?”

Rhodey didn’t answer the question immediately. “You’ve never really talked about what happened before you died the first time. You told us enough that we know Lucifer killed you, and you hinted at some other stuff, but you never really  _explained_. And, I gotta say, what Dean and Sam said doesn’t exactly match up with what I know of you.”

“You know me  _now_.” Gabriel forced himself to relax, managing a smile. “A lot’s changed.”

“Yeah, you say that, but I don’t think you’ve changed  _that_  much. Sure, maybe you’re more human now, but you’re still you.” Rhodey leaned his shoulder against Gabriel’s, his body warmth palpable even through clothes. “I got their side of things, but what about yours? I know you like painting yourself as the bad guy sometimes, but you’re not.”

Gabriel couldn’t help a snort. “Says who?”

“Anyone who actually  _knows_  you,” Rhodey answered easily.

Letting the silence hang for several minutes, Gabriel dropped his head back against the backrest of the couch, looking up against the ceiling. Eventually, he said, “What exactly do you want to know?”

“What was going through your head? They said you weren’t for either side, but you weren’t really helping them either with the tricks you pulled. And when you did do it, Dean said he talked you into facing Lucifer.”

Gabriel’s bark of laughter was harsh, his tone biting when he responded. “You know what I was thinking during the whole thing? I was  _tired_. I was so damn  _relieved_  when they kick-started the damn apocalypse. I’d tried stalling by warning Sam off, but he wasn’t listening, so I gave up. And then it started, so what did I have to lose? One way or another, it’d be over as long as those two played their roles. It wasn’t like there was a third option since it had been all but written in stone after the Fall.

“And here these two humans were, and they weren’t listening to a thing anyone said, doing what they wanted and saying they’d  _make_  a third option.” Gabriel paused, recalling the moment they’d realized they weren’t dealing with a trickster after all and trapped him to ask what he was doing. “I didn’t know what to think. Still didn’t when the gods met at the Elysian. I didn’t exactly get a proper invite, but word spreads through the grapevine even down to beings like tricksters, so I showed up.”

Slipping back into Loki’s skin had been as easy as breathing, even though there’d been close calls with Dean and Sam. Then again, it hadn’t been needed in the end when Kali figured it out.

“You still didn’t want to do anything.” There was no judgment in Rhodey’s tone.

“ _Fuck_  no.” Gabriel’s grin was bitter. “Why the hell would I? This was  _Lucifer_ , Michael’s equal. I didn’t have a chance, but I wanted to get the others out. And…well…I didn’t want to face him either.”

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “And…it was an old argument, for me. I was sick of it. It started before Lucifer fell, but nobody ever let it go afterwards. Before was the worst of it. Michael and Lucifer would never stop arguing, and Raphael never wanted to be the one to stop them – she liked Michael too much, she wasn’t neutral enough. Neither was I, really, but I could fake it. And anyone younger – less powerful – would’ve gotten torn apart.

“I left because I was sick of being the mediator, mostly. If you’d spent your whole life trying to prevent your siblings’ argument from spiraling out of control, wouldn’t you throw the towel in when it finally did and they all tried to drag you back into it again?”

Rhodey’s tone was noncommittal as he pointed out, “You  _did_  get dragged back into it.”

“Kicking and screaming, but yeah.” He closed his eyes, remembering what Dean had told him. “Dean kicked my ass, all right. But nothing he said was a lie. And it reminded me just what we’d forgotten over time.”

Quietly, like he knew the answer but wasn’t sure, Rhodey asked, “What was that?”

Gabriel turned to look at him, giving him a small smile. “We were supposed to protect you guys. Humans, the Earth… It wasn’t ever about  _us_. And, somehow, we’d forgotten that. So I got off my ass and did something.” And had gotten killed for it, even though he hadn’t ever expected a different outcome. “Now, I don’t regret what I did. But, possibly, I could’ve changed things if I’d gotten involved sooner. If I’d taken a stand before…” He sighed, Gadreel’s words from before echoing in his ears. “Well, it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Seems like it still matters to you,” Rhodey said.

“It was a while ago, even for me.”

“And you’re claiming it doesn’t affect you anymore, after the dramatic monologue you just gave me?” Rhodey gave Gabriel an  _are you kidding me_ look. “Especially after you’ve said all that stuff before about ‘angels not changing easily’ and being ‘really set in their ways.’ I can  _imagine_ how long you’ve been beating yourself up about that argument.”

“I never said I was—” Gabriel protested.

“You implied it,” Rhodey interrupted. “And,  _geez_ , Tony, you think I don’t know how to read you? It doesn’t matter that you’re not  _just_  Tony anymore. You’re still my best friend, and I  _know_  you. You’re still beating yourself up about what happened, even though what you did is honestly one of the scariest and bravest things anyone can do.” He paused, reaching around Gabriel’s shoulders to wrap him in a hug.

“I ran away and then died the moment I got pulled back into the fight,” Gabriel said dryly, trying to sound casual.

“Don’t be stupid,” Rhodey said. “From the sound of it, you did the best thing you could for  _yourself_ , and sometimes that’s who you’ve gotta watch out for. The dying thing isn’t on you. And it’s okay to still be upset that your  _brother_  killed you, even if that’s a normal thing in your old universe.”

“Not really,” Gabriel muttered, valiantly pretending he wasn’t leaning into Rhodey’s hug. Judging from the way Rhodey’s arm tightened, he wasn’t fooled.

“Nah, you keep saying you guys are pretty violent and not the typical Hallmark postcards. Ergo, the constant threat of death is normal.”

“We weren’t violent towards  _each other_. Not usually.”

“The fact that there’s an exception proves my point, probably,” Rhodey said. “Plus, I’ve read some of those Norse sagas, too.”

“Those were a product of their time,” Gabriel grumbled, but it occurred to him that circumstances under which Rhodey had probably gone looking for them were...not great. “Which ones?” he asked lightly.

Rhodey was silent, for a moment. “First one we ran into was called Lokasenna,” he said, and Gabriel closed his eyes and silently cursed at whatever deity ran Google ( _someone_ probably did, at this point) back in his old universe.

“You know not all of that really happened?” Gabriel knew he didn’t sound lighthearted enough to fool Rhodey.

“How much of it was true, then?”

The real answer was  _most of it_ , but Gabriel didn’t want to say that. He had a feeling his silence was just as telling.

“’Cause I gotta say,” Rhodey continued, when Gabriel didn’t speak, “killing a dude’s servant for no reason doesn’t seem like you.”

Gabriel had to rack his brains for a moment before he remembered how the story went, versus what had actually happened. “That didn’t happen  _then,_ ” he said, and then winced. Wow, that was so not any better than the story.

“Which one?” Rhodey asked dryly. “The one that they said got Loki kicked out, or the one who supposedly died trying to stop you from getting back in?”

Gabriel sat up, leaning forward and away from the arm Rhodey still had slung around his shoulders. “I don’t know if you noticed,” he said, “but that took place  _after_ they did all that stuff to my kids.”

“There was a passing mention of it,” Rhodey said. “None of it really seems that pleasant.”

“The end isn’t true,” Gabriel said. “They couldn’t have caught me if they tried, much less done…the rest of it to me. They just had the author put it in there to make themselves feel better.”

“And the rest was true?”

Gabriel sighed. “You’ve been in school,” he said. “I’m sure they went over the Middle Ages at some point. It was a different time. Different things were acceptable.”

“I kinda got the feeling that the whole point of that story was that you did everything that wasn’t.”

Well…yes. Gabriel didn’t voice that thought aloud.

“What else did you look up?” he asked, still looking across the room and out the windows at the dark city outside them. “I’m guessing you didn’t stop there.”

“ _I_ did,” Rhodey said. “Natasha was a little more curious.”

Of course it had been Natasha. “Let me guess,” Gabriel said sardonically, rising and pacing away. “She found a different story about a little bet I made.”

“Man, I only heard bits and pieces, but I really hope that one was made up.”

Gabriel raised a hand, absentmindedly, to his mouth.

“Dude,” Rhodey said, “ _really_?”

“I didn’t think I was going to  _lose_ ,” Gabriel snapped, which was the worst defense he had ever come up with in his entire life, and even  _he_ knew it the moment he said it.

“Are you  _serious_?”

“I thought you said you didn’t read it,” Gabriel said, spinning around to face Rhodey again.

“I heard  _enough_ ,” Rhodey said, looking torn between being aghast and angry. “I didn’t want to read about my best friend getting  _his lips sewn shut_! Betting your  _head_?”

“It’s not like I  _knew_ they were going to make Thor’s wet dream of a weapon!”

“Which is why you  _don’t make bets like that_.” Rhodey said, leaning very solidly towards anger.

“No one said I was in my present mindset when I did it.” If he hadn’t been  _Loki_ , then he wouldn’t even have considered it, his own sense of self-preservation coming into play.

“ _That’s_ the excuse you’re going with?”

“Excuse me for being a god with confidence! Which ones of us  _don’t_ have any? No one!” Gabriel threw his arms up in frustration. “It didn’t  _last_ for very long, all right, the dwarves might have known  _some_ magic but it wasn’t like it was  _permanent_.”

“Oh, that makes me feel  _so_ much better, it was only for a  _little while_ ,” Rhodey retorted. “I know what you consider ‘a little while,’ Tony! A few centuries might as well be a second!”

“It wasn’t—”  _More than a decade._ Gabriel cut off that very non-reassuring sentence before he could finish it. “It wasn’t that bad. I don’t feel things like humans do, or like other gods. It was, at worst, an inconvenience until I could reasonably fix it without raising suspicion. There weren’t any scars, either.”

“You think that matters? Getting your lips sewn shut because of a  _bad bet_  isn’t  _cool_.”

“What do you want me to do? Go back in time and tell myself not to do it?” Gabriel couldn’t keep back the frustration. “It’s over with, Rhodey. It’s not something I remember every five seconds and think about. It was a mistake, but it wasn’t even  _that_  bad of a mistake.”

“I’m  _upset_ because you did something stupid and got hurt over it, and I’m wondering what  _else_ you did as Loki,” Rhodey said. “I’m your friend, okay? It matters to me that it  _happened_ , even if you don’t care anymore.”

Rhodey’s sincerity was plain, along with his caring. Gabriel couldn’t help but soften in response.

“I know,” he said, sitting down next to Rhodey again, “but it really doesn’t matter. It…it was a miniscule  _fraction_  of my life, even though it’s a lot more to you. And I know a lot of what I did doesn’t make sense to you or is kind of horrifying, but we went over this before. I’m not going to make excuses for my actions, since it won’t make sense to you regardless.” He reached out to touch Rhodey, clasping his shoulder gently. “But the fact that you  _care_  means a lot. So thanks.”

Rhodey huffed, not looking very reassured. “As long as you promise never to do it again.”

“What kinda person in this day and age would ask me to wager my head? Who would  _want_ it?” Odin had kept Mimir’s head around after the latter had lost the rest of himself, but Gabriel doubted anyone he knew – or who knew of him – would have the knowledge or power to do the same. Especially not to an archangel.

“I don’t  _know_ , but I’m pretty sure the Avengers will have at least one whack job lining up to demand it. Or maybe someone else from your old universe will pop up wanting recompense because  _something_  didn’t go the way they wanted.” Rhodey narrowed his eyes. “So  _don’t do it_. Even if you can re-grow your head or something.”

“As if anybody could offer me anything worth paying for this beauty,” Gabriel said, stroking his goatee exaggeratedly. The ring they’d named Draupnir had been pretty cool, actually, but definitely not worth paying a head for.

Rhodey smacked his shoulder with the back of his hand. “Stop it. I’m not joking.”

“I know you’re not.” Gabriel kept his voice soothing. “I’m not the same person who’d do that anymore.”

“I don’t know. You were pretty insistent before on Loki being part of you.”

“And I’m still Loki, but not  _all_  Loki.” Gabriel paused, unsure of how to explain something that was just  _natural_. “It won’t make sense,” he said eventually. “It’s not something I can explain, but it just  _is_. I’m Loki, but he’s just a part of me. I don’t need to be  _all_  Loki.” Sighing in aggravation, Gabriel rubbed his forehead. “Think of it like how I’m Tony and Gabriel at the same time. Except Loki’s  _less_.”

Rhodey didn’t respond immediately, brow furrowed. “You’re right. That doesn’t make sense.”

“Yeah, I got nothing else.” Gabriel shot him a wary look. “You done interrogating me on my past choices?”

“Depends how many more bad ones get brought up,” Rhodey said, “but yeah, I’ll leave it for tonight.”

“Don’t you mean morning?”

Rhodey grimaced, refusing to look out the window at the lightening sky. “ _No_.”

Gabriel conceded the point. “All right, but you don’t get to judge me on the choices I made as a  _god_. Sure, I was confident as heck, but I had zero self-preservation except for when it counted.” “When it counted” depended on a number of variables Gabriel didn’t think he could pin down if his life depended on it.

“All right,” Rhodey sighed. “I promise to only judge you for the stuff I was around for.”

“I’ll take that, I guess.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly...just look at [ofool's](http://ofools.tumblr.com) [character lineup](http://ofools.tumblr.com/post/142173852269/yet-another-character-lineup) for their story 'Runebound' because they've pretty much got a perfect Thor (I love their Loki, too, but then again I like every version of Loki pretty much). Maybe with slightly straighter and longer hair, but you get the idea! 
> 
> As for the story...the first saga referenced in the conversation with Rhodey is, as he said, the Lokasenna. If you [look here](http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe10.htm), you'll find the fancy, well-translated version of the myth. It's a very scholarly translation, and I get that some people might be a little put off by that, so:
> 
> For the 'fun' version (and I use fun loosely here) and also the far more accessible version, check [this link](http://bettermyths.com/387-2/); it will be under the Norse tab, labeled as 'Loki takes it just a little too far'. 
> 
> The second myth doesn't have a name, as far as I can tell. However, [here](http://norse-mythology.org/tales/loki-and-the-dwarves/) is a version that isn't too high-handedly worded. If you liked bettermyths so much when you checked out the Lokasenna/Loki Taking It Too Far, there is also a version of this myth posted there, titled 'Thor gets a hammer'.
> 
> Anyway, yay! Things going relatively well! Let's hope Gabriel's luck holds with Hela.
> 
> _I admit I kind of picture Thor with blond hair, although he's not quite the MCU version of Thor. But we deliberately kept his description vague so you guys can do what you'd like with that. Also, he's a bit of a jerk, sorry._
> 
> _That conversation with Rhodey was rough, but it did need to be done. Gabriel's never actually told anyone the specifics of what happened before his first death, although he didn't even explain everything now. He's got a lot of guilt to deal with, which is a thing that's both Gabriel and Tony. It's also not something that's just going to disappear, since A) he's an angel and B) it's his personality. ^^;_
> 
> _Hela is a villain in Marvel comics. And, yes, she really does have a ridiculous outfit. Actually, there are various versions that look more ridiculous than others. Much like Steve's infamous Nomad costume and the time Clint wore a mini-skirt (both in comics). She's not Loki's kid in this universe, so their relationship is more neutral. Once upon a time they may have been allies, but they're not here. That doesn't mean Loki doesn't know how to interact with her, so he was the perfect companion for Gabriel here. :P_


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bots and gods in the same place - _that's_ an interesting scene to write.
> 
> _Remember how Loki responded to hearing the bots' names initially? NOW PICTURE THAT THREE TIMES OVER._

The bots always seemed to wake up as one – more likely whoever woke up first had been informed by JARVIS that Gabriel was back, and had woken up everyone else – and they found him in the living room in short order. Gabriel pretended not to notice them sneaking up on him, and got dog-piled for his consideration.

“You came back really fast!” Dummy said delightedly.

“I promised, didn’t I?” Gabriel gently removed Dummy’s arms from around his neck. Dummy immediately climbed over the back of the sofa and plopped down next to him. Sam followed, trying to squeeze nemself into the space between the two of them.

“Dustin missed you,” Butterfingers announced, unceremoniously dumping the cat into Gabriel’s lap. Dustin purred, kneading Gabriel’s legs.

“You said you’d come back,” Dummy reminded him. “You didn’t say  _when_.”

“I must’ve gotten better at this universal travel thing, then.” Gabriel looped an arm around Sam, carefully  _not_ elbowing Dummy in the neck.

“ _What about our new siblings?_ ” You asked hopefully.

“They’re asleep,” Gabriel said, and then grabbed Butterfingers’s sleeve to stop her from dashing away. “Which is  _not_ an invitation to go waking them up. They’re not used to people yet, much less  _you_ four, and besides, Sleipnir’s the only one who speaks good English so far.”

“How come?” Sam asked curiously.

“They haven’t been able to interact with people a lot,” Gabriel told nem. “Even Sleipnir’s English is a little out of date, but it’s all right, we already speak a bunch of languages between all of us.”

“Then what  _do_ they speak?” Dummy asked.

“Old Norse.”

There was a glazed look in their eyes that signaled they were looking up everything about old Norse that they could and compiling a database of vocabulary and grammar. It wouldn’t be too long before they could understand it, although speaking would be another issue while they got their mouths wrapped around unfamiliar syllables and vowels.

“By ‘out of date,’ what do you mean?” Butterfingers asked him after she was finished. “Does he speak like Shakespeare?”

Gabriel couldn’t hide a smile at the thought of Sleipnir dropping dick jokes left and right. “Not quite  _that_ old. Think Victorian English. It’s not too different from how we speak nowadays.”

“I was looking forward to dusting off my Middle English,” Butterfingers muttered, pouting.

“You’ve never spoken Middle English,” Dummy pointed out.

“I do now!” Butterfingers crossed her arms. “I thought I should learn just in case!”

“I was only gone for twelve hours, tops,” Gabriel said. “Is that what you were doing the whole time I was gone?”

Sam looked up at him solemnly, though there was a glint of mischief in nir eyes.”Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote/ the droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote/ and bathed every veyne in swich licóur—”

Gabriel put a hand over nir mouth, cutting nem off. “No, no, stop, we don’t need to hear that entire thing. But that was really authentic,” he added. “Brings me back to the old days when everyone did speak like that.”

“Not the  _good_  old days?” Butterfingers asked.

“When nobody takes a bath except for maybe once a year if they’re rich, things can only be so good,” Gabriel replied. “You start developing a standard for that kind of thing once it’s not the norm.”

“Gross,” Sam said. “Once a  _year_?”

“People used to think dirt kept away demons and the like,” Gabriel said. “If that was ever true, it was because the demons in question had standards.” He could definitely see Crowley steering clear of anybody that didn’t take baths.

“Do your other kids take baths?” Dummy questioned.

“Oh, yeah. Gods – and the Norse in general, really – were distinctly cleaner than most.”

“Oh good.” Dummy sighed in relief. “I could’ve dealt with it, but I’d rather keep breathing.”

“ _Isn’t that why spices were so popular?_ ” You asked.

“Yeah, people knew that they stank, but they were pretty set on the no-baths thing. And the spices were more because the food spoiled and they wanted to cover up the taste.” Not that covering the taste of spoiled food had done much about food poisoning.

“That’s where perfumes came in, right?” Butterfingers mimed spraying perfume around her neck. “To cover up the fact that they didn’t bathe. And the  _wigs_.” She paused, making a face. “They looked ridiculous.”

“I’m not getting into that.” Gabriel glanced to the side when he felt Gadreel’s Grace brush against his, an alert that the boys were stirring. “Okay, if you guys don’t mind hanging on for a few minutes, I’m going to see how the others are doing.”

Sam leaned in, excitement radiating off nem. “Can we meet them?”

“Maybe.” Gabriel brushed a hand over the back of nir head, ruffling nir hair slightly. “I’ll let you know in a bit. They might not feel like it, though – being in a strange place can make people nervous.”

“Getting to know people can make it better,” Dummy pointed out.

“Maybe so, but we’ll let them make that decision.” Gabriel stood, giving the four of them a long look. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.”

They answered him with four identical unimpressed stares. Even Sam, who hadn’t seen everything nir siblings had, was in on it.

“You said that when you left,” Sam reminded him.

“Did you listen?”

“Learning Middle English for fun seemed like something you would do,” Butterfingers said.

“I didn’t have to learn it, but that’s a good point.” Gabriel ignored the smug grin Butterfingers shot him. “In any case, I mean it. JARVIS is keeping an eye on you.”

No one said anything as he left, but he did hear Sam mutter to the others, “When  _isn’t_  he?”

Shaking his head and sending JARVIS a silent apology, Gabriel went to Gadreel, shooting him an inquiring glance. “All good?”

“They were quiet,” Gadreel answered, leaning back against the wall next to the door. “I didn’t sense any distress from them.”

“Are they up, or are you just giving me an update?”

“They’re awake,” Gadreel replied. “Fenris seemed fascinated by the balcony, so I let him go outside, but I think the height of the building may have frightened him a little.”

That was understandable, if not really good news.

Gabriel put a hand to the door, glancing back at Gadreel. “You mind staying out for a little bit longer?”

Gadreel inclined his head, eyes flicking sideways down the hall before returning to Gabriel’s. “Of course not.”

When Gabriel opened the door, the boys were huddled around the window, wide-eyed and whispering to each other. They all turned to look at him when he let the door click shut behind him.

“ _We’re so **high up**!_ ” Fenris said immediately, eyes wide. “ _You **live**  here?_”

“It’s my building, as a matter of fact,” Gabriel said in Allspeak. “Most big cities have skyscrapers now – that’s what they’re called.” He grinned conspiratorially at them. “Mine’s the biggest.”

“ _You don’t fall down?_ ” Jormungandr glanced skeptically out the window. “ _What if something breaks?_ ”

“Humans have gotten good at building very tall buildings,” Gabriel reassured him. “If something was going to break, they’ve already figured out how to build these things so that doesn’t happen. Besides,  _I’d_ notice before anything catastrophic happened.”

Fenris and Jormungandr still didn’t look convinced, although Sleipnir was nodding slowly, a considering look on his face.

Giving the outside world one last glance, Gabriel turned back to them. “Remember what we were talking about before? There are people here who would like to meet you. They’re picking up Norse now. But you don’t have to meet them yet if you’re not ready.”

They shot each other looks, an entire conversation held within a few seconds before they looked back at him.

“Yes,” Sleipnir told him. “We would like to do that.”

Gabriel didn’t even have a chance to answer. There was a loud thud from outside the room, followed by frantic whispering and Gadreel hushing the offending parties.

“That would be them,” Gabriel said dryly.

“To be fair, sir,” JARVIS said, “you did tell them to not do anything you wouldn’t do.”

“Yes, I know, hoisted on my own petard.” Gabriel put on a resigned sigh, raising his voice so the others could hear him. “No pressure, but you can see them now since they decided eavesdropping would be a good idea.”

“ _That’s okay,_ ” Fenris said, eyes on the door. “ _We can just kick them out if they get annoying, right?_ ”

There was another flurry of whispering outside, concluded by a general agreement to not be annoying.

“You absolutely can,” Gabriel said. “It’s your space, so you can do what you want. I’d just advise against making holes in the floors or walls since it can destabilize the place. I mean, one or two holes aren’t a big deal, but if you start making a bunch we’re going to have a problem.”

“ _What do you think we’re going to **do**_?” Fenris looked slightly bewildered, but also like he was suppressing a grin, which was a good sign.

“Who knows? You’re all my kids. Anything could happen.”

There was a sound like Dummy wanted to say something but was muffled by one of his siblings. Probably something about explosions.

“ _They can come in,_ ” Jormungandr said

None of the bots needed any other encouragement than that. They piled in and nearly tripped over each other when the door swung open. Gadreel stood behind them, a long-suffering look on his face. He simply shrugged when Gabriel raised his eyebrows, his look the equivalent of saying “you deal with them.”

“ _Hi!_ ” Dummy was up first, springing towards Fenris and beaming. He didn’t reach out to touch him, though it seemed to be a close call. “ _I’m Dummy!_ ”

Fenris blinked, taken aback. “ _You’re **what**?_ ” He sounded incredulous.

“ _Dummy_ ,” Dummy repeated, not losing his smile. He didn’t seem to care that the other two were also staring at him. “ _It’s my name._ ”

As one, Fenris, Jormungandr, and Sleipnir turned to stare at Gabriel, horror on their faces.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Gabriel said. “Your names are just as weird nowadays.”

“ _Dummy_?” Sleipnir sounded horrified.

“ _Yes?_ ” Dummy’s smile was too innocent, his eyes wide.

“ _I’m Butterfingers,_ ” Butterfingers offered, an identical smile on her face. “ _That’s You._ ”

Sam didn’t speak until they looked at nem, expressions all a mixture of horror and resignation. “ _Sam,_ ” was all ne said, shrugging.

“Those aren’t names,” Sleipnir protested, looking back at Gabriel. “They’re insults. And a pronoun.”

“Sam’s definitely a name,” Gabriel protested. “Besides, they’re AIs! Which I created mostly on accident! I was also human at the time.”

“And drunk,” Dummy added helpfully. “You were definitely drunk.”

“Unhelpful,” Gabriel informed him, while Sleipnir’s eyebrows approached his hairline.

“ _And you’re all siblings?_ ” Fenris asked Dummy, eyes flickering to the other three.

“ _Yep!_ ” Dummy paused briefly, brow furrowing. Then, stumbling slightly over the next words, he added, “ _I’m the oldest. Sam’s the youngest. But J **looks**  like he’s the oldest, only he’s not._”

“You named someone after a letter,” Sleipnir said, sounding decidedly unimpressed.

“His actual name’s JARVIS.”

“ _Which is an acronym,_ ” Butterfingers said, knowing exactly what she was doing. She was speaking far too smoothly to not have rehearsed this before. “ _It stands for Just A Rather Very Intelligent System. So, JARVIS!_ ”

Gabriel resisted the urge to cover his face with a hand. “You’re enjoying this too much.”

“We take our entertainment where we can find it,” Jarvis said from the door, looking far too amused with Gabriel’s predicament. “In all fairness, sir, you are rather terrible with naming things.”

“I never said I was  _good_.” Gabriel glanced at the older three. “These three were all named by the time I found them.”

“ _Which I’m grateful for now,_ ” Jormungandr said. “ _So grateful._ ”

“ _Who named you, then?_ ” Dummy asked.

“ _My **mom** ,_” Jormungandr told him, quite obviously leaving off a “duh” at the end. Except that wasn’t Norse slang, but he was definitely implying the same kind of meaning.

All four bots looked up at Gabriel simultaneously.

“I’m pretty sure you all already know the answer to what you’re about to ask,” Gabriel said.

“Who was the mom?” Sam asked in a stage whisper, looking fascinated. “You didn’t  _really_  do it with a—”

“O _kay_ , no!” Gabriel shot the older three a betrayed look. They all looked back at him innocently. “Why is that always the first thing that people bring up?”

“It is rather fascinating,” Jarvis said unapologetically.

“It’s fake is what it is,” Gabriel grumbled. “Thor probably made it up while he was drunk just to be petty. It’s not like any surviving myths are  _primary sources_.” Jormungandr shifted uneasily at the mention of Thor, and Gabriel put a reassuring hand on his back.

“It’s all we have,” Butterfingers said reasonably. “So who  _did_  do it if you didn’t?”

“How would I know? I wasn’t there when Sleipnir was born or anything.”

“But the myths say  _you_  did it,” Sam insisted, tilting nir head and glancing at Sleipnir. “And you can turn into a horse if you  _want_ , right?”

Gabriel didn’t answer, staring at nem for a long moment. Gadreel was far too amused, and even Jarvis had a hand over his face like he was hiding a smile. “All right,” he said finally, turning to Sam’s older siblings and fixing them with a stern face. “Who put Sam up to this?”

The guilty three glanced at each other, making faces and clearly communicating via their mental link.

“None of us did,” You answered eventually, scuffing his shoe against the floor.

“You expect me to believe that?”

“It’s all Sam,” Dummy said seriously, which didn’t reassure Gabriel at all.

It wasn’t as if Samael hadn’t been a bit of a prankster back in the day. Or at least what an angel considered being a prankster, anyway.

But he hadn’t exactly expected this.

Looking back at a far too innocent Sam didn’t make him feel better. “I didn’t turn into any horses,” he said after a moment. “They’re  _myths_  for a reason, Sam.”

“They can’t  _all_ be wrong,” Sam protested.

“Well, nobody liked me much, so maybe take the ones about me with a grain of salt or two, next time,” Gabriel said. “Besides, that one was written down hundreds of years after the Vikings stopped being a thing by a Christian guy.”

Sam fixed him with a narrow-eyed look, seeming to evaluate what he’d said. “Okay,” ne said eventually, huffing. “I’ll stop.” The unspoken “for now” shouldn’t have been as hilariously terrifying as it was.

“Thank you,” Gabriel said dryly. He turned back to the others, resolutely ignoring their amused expressions in favor of saying, “Everyone good? Names no longer a thing? You’re going to get the same reaction from humans when you introduce yourself now.”

Fenris turned to Dummy. “ _You mean you introduce yourself as Dummy to humans?_ ”

“ _DJ,_ ” Dummy admitted. “ _Humans get weird if you have an insult for a name, and we can’t explain how it worked to **everyone**._ ” He glanced at Gabriel, adding, “ _Even though it’s a nice name!_ ”

Fenris didn’t look any less confused by “DJ” as a name, and looked at Gabriel somewhat helplessly.

“How ’bout we finish this discussion on the way upstairs for breakfast?” Gabriel suggested, having long ago learned that food was a surefire way to distract them.

“Pancakes!” Dummy shouted immediately, making Jormungandr, who was closest to him, startle.

“Pancakes are doable,” Gabriel said.

“Those are still around?” Sleipnir looked surprised.

“ _What are you talking about?_ ” Fenris asked. “ _I’ve never heard of them._ ”

“ _They’re new_ ,” Sleipnir said. “ _Sort of._ ”

“You’ll like them,” Gabriel assured them. “You can make them with fruits. You can also make them salty with vegetables.”

“ _Just make sure it’s not salty with **fruits** ,_” Butterfingers whispered to Fenris, shooting a glance to an oblivious Dummy.

“ _Um…okay._ ” Fenris followed her gaze uncertainly, clearly unsure as to what she meant.

“We may have had a few cooking mishaps from time to time,” Gabriel said airily. “I’m sure J will intervene before anything like that happens.”

“I’m thrilled to be placed on supervisor duty,” Jarvis said dryly.

“You’re the best at it, buddy.” Gabriel grinned at him, before directing his attention back to his kids. “So! Let’s relocate to the kitchen, because I do not have the ingredients  _or_ the stove necessary to make pancakes in my bedroom.”

As the boys got to their feet, the bots eagerly scrambling to lead them in the right direction, Jarvis sidled up to Gabriel and ducked in closely to whisper, “Ms. Potts and Colonel Rhodes are currently in the kitchen. As are Agent Romanov and Sergeant Barnes.”

Nodding, Gabriel called ahead to the kids nonchalantly, “Rhodey and the other two who you met will be joining us, by the way, along with Pepper. Which is a nickname,” he added before anyone could ask about it. “She’s essentially like family, so don’t be too shy about saying hi.”

“ _You gave her that nickname,_ ” Dummy reminded him, stumbling slightly over “nickname.”

“I give everyone nicknames. They don’t have to be  _good_. That’s why they’re nicknames.”

“Who is Pepper?” Sleipnir asked.

“She’s a very old friend of mine,” Gabriel explained. “She helps me out a lot, too. You’ll like her, I promise; she’s probably the nicest person in the tower.”

“Except Steve,” You said.

“Maybe tied with Steve,” Gabriel amended. “You guys haven’t met Steve yet, though.”

“ _Steve is **awesome** ,_” Sam agreed. “ _He gives the best piggyback rides!_ ”

“ _Piggyback rides_?” Jormungandr and Fenris asked at the same time.

“ _You mean he turns into a pig?_ ” Fenris added.

Sam opened nir mouth to respond, only to shut it a second later and fix Fenris with a suspicious look. “ _Piggyback rides aren’t new,_ ” ne said with certainty. “ _I know you had them._ ”

“ _Damn, this kid’s a prankster._ ” Fenris sounded admiring.

Sam preened, grinning toothily. “ _You’ll like him_ ,” ne repeated lightly. “ _He can carry you guys, too! Even though you’re all bigger than me._ ”

“Is he as strong as you?” Sleipnir looked up at Gabriel.

“Nah,” Gabriel said. “He’s pretty strong for a human, though. He could lift you in both forms, I bet, though giving you a ride while you’re a horse would be awkward.”

Sleipnir seemed like he was picturing it, though he shook his head a few seconds later.

Further speculation on the nature of piggyback rides was put to a halt as they came to the kitchen and Dummy ran in.

“Aunt Pepper!” Dummy cried, bounding over to where she was sitting at the kitchen table and nursing a cup of coffee. “Look who Dad brought home!” He slipped into Norse in his excitement. “ _Aren’t they awesome?_ ”

“I have no idea what you just said, but I agree,” Pepper told him fondly, looking up to take in the newest arrivals.

“We’re getting pancakes,” Dummy continued excitedly.

Pepper raised her eyebrows. “Who’s cooking?”

“If someone wants to volunteer, I won’t object,” Gabriel said, looking over to an amused James and Natasha. Rhodey was steadfastly looking elsewhere. “Pepper, meet our newest family members, even though they’re  _technically_ the oldest ones here aside from me.”

Sleipnir offered her a small wave.

“ _You guys are like me, then,_ ” Dummy said, bouncing on his feet. “ _I’m the oldest, but I don’t **look**  it. And J’s only older than Sam._”

“ _How old are you?_ ” Jormungandr asked curiously.

“ _Dad built me back in nineteen eighty-seven, so I’m twenty-seven._ ”

Jormungandr looked him over, looking somewhat impressed. “ _I’m eight hundred and sixty-eight,_ ” he said.

“ ** _Oh_** _,_ ” said Dummy, looking far more impressed.

Gabriel paused in rustling through the kitchen cabinets. Jormungandr wasn’t  _that_ old – well, no, counting the time he’d been…indisposed…

Huh. They must have sat down and figured out their proper ages, at some point.

“You guys picked up Norse fast,” Rhodey said.

“That’s ’cause we have the internet,” Sam said, hopping up onto a stool besides Pepper. “And really good memories. But speaking’s a little difficult.”

“You’re better at it than me,” Butterfingers said, taking the other chair next to Pepper before Dummy could. “Even though I’m  _older_.”

“I’ve got better neuroplasticity than you  _because_  I’m younger.” Sam stuck nir tongue out.

Gabriel privately thought it was due to something other than Sam’s age or nature as an AI, but he wasn’t going to bring it up.

“You’re cooking?” Natasha asked Gabriel, sounding amused.

Gabriel shrugged. “No one else volunteered. I’m not that bad of a cook.”

“Snapping up an entire table’s worth of food isn’t  _cooking_.”

Gabriel rubbed his fingers together, raising an eyebrow. “What is it, then? I’m making food, which is really what cooking’s all about.”

“The man has a point,” Rhodey said, ruffling Dummy’s hair as he sat down. “Maybe it’s a bad point, but it’s a point.”

Grumbling, Gabriel turned back to the stove, turning on the heat and absentmindedly starting a batch of pancake mix with a flick of his fingers. “No appreciation for the art of cooking.”

“I don’t know what you define as cooking, but snapping your fingers and making food just appear isn’t it,” James said slowly.

“Cooking can be defined as ‘food that has been prepared in a particular way,’” Butterfingers said, “according to Google. I  _think_ this  _sorta_ counts.”

“That’s a secondary definition,” Dummy countered, evidently having located the page Butterfingers was on.

“Nobody who complains about my method is getting any pancakes,” Gabriel announced. “You can forage in the pantry.”

“Your cooking is awesome,” Rhodey said promptly. “It’s the best I’ve ever had.”

Gabriel looked back at him, unimpressed. “Flattery will get you nowhere.”

“Is it flattery if it’s true?”

“You’re not exactly telling the truth here.”

“I’m fine with whatever you’re making,” Pepper said, not looking up from her coffee.

Natasha raised her hand, somehow making it look mocking. “Are we allowed to complain if you admit that Rhodey saying it’s good is a lie?”

Gabriel pointed the spatula at her. “ _You_  can go search the pantry for breakfast. I’m pretty sure we have some dried out cereal in there that Clint started and abandoned.”

Natasha got up gracefully and meandered into the pantry. “I’m sure I’ll manage.”

“It’s got  _bananas_  in it,” Gabriel said. “Dried out bits of bananas.”

“I like bananas.”

“Including shriveled pieces of bananas that have never seen daylight?”

“Whatever works.” Natasha strolled back out with her hand in a bag of goldfish. “Have fun with the pancakes.”

“I plan to,” Gabriel called after her, and he  _was_ going to, damn it, if he hadn’t been interrupted by the sudden arrival of a local goddess.

The pancake batter didn’t spill, but that was only because it had been stirring by itself on the counter. He didn’t drop the spatula either, instead pointing it at Hela. “Whatever happened to an advance warning?”

After a moment of silent astonishment, Pepper covered Sam’s eyes.

Sam tilted nir head. “You know I can use the cameras, right?”

“You are  _impossible_ ,” Pepper told Gabriel, shooting scandalized glances in Hela’s direction.

“What?” Gabriel took another look at Hela and realized what had made Pepper cover Sam’s eyes. Her outfit was rather revealing by Earth’s standards. “Ah. You know, to be honest, I didn’t even notice.”

Rhodey politely looked away. “I shouldn’t be surprised at this point.”

Sighing, Gabriel set the spatula down and turned towards Hela. “Did you make a decision?”

Looking decidedly unimpressed with everyone around her, Hela nodded curtly. “I have.”

Fenris, Jormungandr, and Sleipnir were staring at her, eyes wide. Fenris looked at Gabriel, mouthing “ _Hel_?” and pointing at her.

Inclining his head in answer to their question, Gabriel didn’t look away from Hela. “And?”

“I will come with you to this other universe,” Hela announced, somehow managing to make it sound regal even though she was standing in the middle of a kitchen with seven kids and several unimpressed adults. One of whom was currently eating goldfish like they were popcorn with zero regard for how loudly crunchy they were; James was helping her finish them off. “If I am to put things in order, then I need to see how they are.”

“Completely understandable,” Gabriel said. He was tempted to add “but your timing could have been better,” which would  _definitely_  have earned him a sharp poke from Loki if the latter had been here. Actually, he would have been poked before just for the behavior of the others. Which he had no control over. “When would you like to leave?”

Rhodey was giving him incredulous eyebrows, and Pepper was eyeing him like he’d eaten something funny (which hadn’t happened  _that_  often). It took Gabriel a moment to realize they were concerned by his behavior, but he couldn’t exactly drop everything and shoot them a reassuring smile or something.

Hela’s smile was thin-lipped. “Would now be too much of an imposition?”

Gabriel gave her a sharp smile, thinking of Hel, waiting for him to come through on his end of this plan. “Now would be perfectly fine.”

Fenris looked vaguely alarmed, most likely recognizing that smile. “ _Now?_ ”

“I’ll only be a moment.” Gabriel tossed the spatula in the sink. “Pepper’s in charge.” He rounded the counter, offering a hand to Hela. “Shall we?”

Hela held his gaze as she accepted, her hand cold in his. “Of course.”

In the short second before he took off, Gabriel gave everyone else in the kitchen a brief smile and a wink.

Then they were gone.

Gabriel settled easily back into the atmosphere of his old universe, but Hela gave off an air of general prickliness – no doubt she was feeling ever-so-slightly out of place.

He’d put them down in a relatively isolated area, thickly forested and probably rarely seeing any kind of human traffic. Aside from not wanting to be interrupted, the further they were from the bustle of human activity, the easier it would be for Hel to find them.

“This place is very…different,” Hela said delicately. Gabriel wasn’t sure whether she meant that as a good thing or not.

“It could be a nice change, depending on how much one liked where they came from,” Gabriel said idly.

Hela crossed her arms. Maybe that had been too unsubtle. “Where is your other Hela?”

“Give me one moment,” Gabriel replied. “I have to let her know we’re here, and ask for permission first.” Not that he personally planned on entering Niflheim again if he could help it; even Helheim would be pushing it, probably. However, it was  _really_ easy to send another short message pinging down the world tree to somewhere Hel would be able to hear it.

A couple of black specks, too high up to be properly bird-shaped, soared overhead. Gabriel eyed them for only as long as it took to be sure they weren’t ravens, and when he lowered his eyes, Hel was there.

“Father,” she said primly, dipping her head in greeting. Hela raised her eyebrows, but didn’t comment.

Gabriel clapped his hands together. “I brought you a prospective friend,” he said. “You know how I feel about your realm, so I thought maybe you could hash things out together?” He hoped Hel didn’t mind the slight insult, but he was trying to sell this thing to Hela.

Thankfully Hel didn’t react beyond inclining her head slightly, eyes flickering to Hela. “Of course.” She stepped forward, coming closer to Hela and meeting her eyes unflinchingly. “I am Hel. If you would like, we could move this elsewhere.”

“Hela,” Hela answered shortly, her entire bearing dismissive. “Would it be too much trouble to discuss this in your realm? It would afford us privacy not found elsewhere.”

Hel glanced sideways at Gabriel for the briefest second. “Of course,” she said smoothly, offering Hela her left hand – her dead hand. “I’m afraid you’ll have to let me guide you, since this version of Yggdrasil is so unfamiliar.”

Hela’s reaction to the subtle insult must have been pretty spectacular, but sadly Gabriel didn’t get to see it since Hel whisked them away.

Gabriel laughed to himself, anyway. “I’ll have to congratulate her on that one later,” he said to himself.

At the moment, however, he had an unspecified amount of free time on his hands before he could leave – preferably with Hel in tow. What to do?

Well, he could always drop by and see Dean and Sam…and Castiel, just to be sure things were really all good on that end.

He felt vaguely guilty for leaving his siblings to deal with the mess he left in Asgard. None of them liked dealing with pagan gods on the best of days, and these gods would be  _especially_  pissed off at angels. Especially archangels like Castiel, who was still pretty new at it compared to Gabriel and Raphael. Not counting all the years he’d spent avoiding that exact responsibility, of course, even if he’d never  _really_ stopped being an archangel at the core of himself.

Gabriel shook his head, dismissing those thoughts. It was nice out, he had his kids back, and was about to bring the last one home. Now was not the time for lingering over depressing things.

What the hell. He’d go talk to Castiel – he doubted anyone could be sad around that kid.

Several seconds later, Gabriel found himself reevaluating that assumption when he located Castiel in a parliamentary building in Russia. Everything was gloomy and depressing, and even Castiel seemed dimmer in the building.

“Bro,” Gabriel said after a moment, “your job  _sucks_.”

Castiel shot him a curious look, not seeming at all insulted. “How do you mean?”

“Even I don’t like dealing with politicians – never have. And you’re doing it on a regular basis?”

“Someone needs to.” Castiel shrugged, coat rustling with the movement. “Dean helps as well, but he’s…”

Gabriel couldn’t picture Dean doing this. “Not exactly diplomatic?”

Castiel’s lips twitched. “Blunt.”

“That’s  _one_  way to put it.” Gabriel leaned back against the wall, eyeing the room from the sheltered corner Castiel had sequestered himself in. “I can definitely see Dean and the Russians working like a matchbox. You’ll have flames in no time, which would be great in winter.”

Castiel looked pained, but it was telling that he didn’t say anything in protest. It was a moment before he spoke again, asking, “Why are you here, Gabriel? You left earlier; I didn’t expect you back so soon.”

“Yeah,” Gabriel sighed, giving him a half-smile. “There’s still something I need to do here, which also involved running an errand back home. If all goes well, you’ll have a new tenant in Niflheim. She’ll probably be a little villainous from what Loki tells me, but I’m sure you can handle her.”

Castiel stared at him. “Are you telling me that the goddess Hel from this universe is trading places with the Hel from yours?”

“The other one’s named Hela, actually, but yeah.” Gabriel shrugged nonchalantly. “That’s it in a nutshell. Niflheim needs a ruler, so I got one. Hopefully I sold it well enough that she’ll be willing to move.”

“You have a way with words that few do,” Castiel assured him. “I’m sure it’s simply a matter of time now.”

“Now you’re just flattering me,” Gabriel said, grinning. “How ’bout we ditch this place for a little bit? Whatever business you’ve got here can’t be  _that_ important.”

Hesitating slightly, Castiel glanced back at the room and the various politicians and officials milling about self-importantly. After a moment, his eyes hardened and he nodded. “You’re right. I think they can sort this out themselves.”

Gabriel didn’t bother asking what they could sort out, since it was most likely a human thing involving panicking about something weird and ridiculous. Like the revelation that the supernatural was real and angels and gods and ghosts were walking on the Earth with humans.

“Come.” Castiel flashed him an excited smile. “There’s something I’d like to show you.”

They ended up in Jerusalem, hovering over what looked like some kind of parade. Gabriel didn’t instantly realize what was going on until he saw the Israeli flag flying in unison with Palestine’s. And in the crowd were people from both sides, mingling and unafraid. There was still some tension, but mostly there was excitement and joy.

“Did you do this?” Gabriel asked, glancing at Castiel.

“It was a joint effort. I simply helped form a bridge.” Castiel was brimming with happiness and a quiet pride. “Undoubtedly there will be tensions in the future, but they’ve reached an agreement that is beneficial for all sides. It’s a beginning that didn’t seem possible before.”

“You did good,” Gabriel agreed, and affectionately (and gently) punched Castiel on the shoulder. “Imagine how you’d’ve felt about doing something like this a couple years ago.”

“Doubtful that it was  _me,_  most likely,” Castiel replied.

“C’mon, you’ve always aimed high.”

“Too high, perhaps.” Castiel’s eyes were haunted, his mouth twisted ruefully. “This is one of the ways I can repent for what I’ve done before.”

Gabriel was silent for a moment. “In the grand scheme of things, what you’ve done isn’t all that bad.”

Castiel shot him a disbelieving look. “I unleashed the Leviathan.  _You_  had to take care of them.”

“Okay, that one was bad, but it’s not like Heaven didn’t purposefully make it possible for Hell to unlock the seals and let Lucifer out.” Gabriel bumped his shoulder companionably against Castiel’s. “What I’m trying to say is that you shouldn’t let your past mistakes drive what you’re doing now. Apologizing and repenting is fine, but don’t let it dictate everything. Those who matter forgave you, which is really all that matters at this point.”

Castiel gave him a long look, which eventually turned into a small smile. “I suppose I must be grateful that you never seem to get tired of reminding me of that.”

“When was the last time?”

“You were very kind, even when you had no memory of me.”

It took Gabriel a bit to remember what Castiel was referring to, the memories buried under everything else that had happened after. “I wouldn’t exactly say  _kind_ ,” he said slowly. “More like confused, and…you seemed lost. I couldn’t do anything about myself, but I could help you.” He grimaced. “Which wasn’t much.”

“You give yourself too little credit. It was what I needed.”

“Yeah, but it was mostly being a decent human being while motivated by a tiny bit of helplessness.”

“I’ve met humans who wouldn’t have done what you did. Particularly since from your perspective, I was a complete stranger claiming to be your brother.” Castiel’s eyes looked off into the distance. “Yet you took me in and helped me. What’s more, you also helped the man who broke into your tower.”

“All right,  _that_  was stupidity on my part.”

Castiel shot him a look, fond and resigned in equal measures. “I believe Dean would say you’re hopeless.”

Gabriel stared at him in mock disbelief. “What did you go insulting me for?”

Shaking his head, Castiel didn’t say anything else, but Gabriel had the distinct impression he was repeating “ _hopeless_ ” under his breath. Below, the crowd of people was still putting out an almost tangible aura of happiness.

They observed the celebration for a while longer, but eventually Gabriel sensed that he was being metaphysically poked at by Hel, who was wondering where he was. Castiel didn’t hear it, but he followed after when Gabriel left.

“It’s done,” Hel said the moment Gabriel arrived. “We’ve made the necessary arrangements.” She hesitated, nervous excitement radiating from her. “Can we leave? It’s still possible that she might change her mind once she realizes what happened.”

“What did you do?” Castiel asked, somewhat more suspiciously than Gabriel thought was really necessary.

“I  _maaaaay_  have twisted the truth a tiny bit when I was persuading alternate-universe Hela to come here and agree to the switch,” Gabriel said, slinging an arm around Hel’s shoulders. “Don’t worry, she probably won’t hold you responsible for it until she realizes we’re related!” He flashed a grin and a peace sign at his younger brother, and swung Hel back with him the way he’d come with her counterpart.

Castiel probably still had questions (Gabriel could both hear and feel the  _Wait_! Castiel had sent after him), but he could just pop by if he really wanted the answers. No, Gabriel was going to get going while the going was good, and while he could take Hel with him without any complications.

Gabriel went straight to Niffleheim, since the only person he needed to ask permission from was  _with_ him this time. Hel landed with admirable steadiness and surveyed the throne room (but mostly the throne – it was very eye-catching).

“Well,” she said, “I suppose I already knew we had some very different tastes.”

“It was the horns that gave it away, wasn’t it?” Gabriel couldn’t bite back a grin at Hel’s resigned expression. “You’ve got plenty of time to remodel, at least,” he offered.

“That’s true.” Hel eyed the throne distastefully. A chill radiated out from her seemingly unconsciously, dropping the temperature steadily. It wasn’t too uncomfortable yet, but Gabriel could tell that soon Niffleheim would no longer be as warm as it had been.

“You can come by whenever,” he said, sticking his hands casually in his pockets. “Tell me how it’s going, maybe throw up some virtual rendering to show the kids what it looks like.”

Hel looked at him curiously. “Virtual rendering?”

“Holograms.” Gabriel gestured vaguely for a second before realizing it wasn’t exactly explaining anything. “You’ll see once you drop by. They’re cool, I promise. I have nothing but the coolest new stuff.”

“I’m sure.” Hel gave the throne another long look, probably deciding how best to dismantle it, but she looked back at Gabriel in time to notice him shift uncomfortably. “Father, you don’t have to stay just to be nice. I know how you feel about the cold.”

“You’ve only been here about three seconds, I didn’t want you to—”

“I won’t feel abandoned,” Hel said, distinctly amused, and then added, somewhat smugly, “I can visit whenever I want now.”

“That’s true.” Gabriel smiled at her.

“If you can stand the cold for one moment more, though…?”

“Yeah? What do you want?”

Hel threw her arms around him.

“Thank you,” she said into the side of his neck.

Throat tight, Gabriel hugged her back. “No thanks necessary,” he managed, glad his voice didn’t waver. “I’m just glad you’re here.”

Hel nodded once, face still pressed into his neck. A few seconds later, she withdrew, giving him a wobbly smile. “I’ll come visit soon,” she promised. “I just need to make sure everything’s fine here.”

“You’ve got plenty of time.” Gabriel patted her shoulder – her right one, since her senses were a little better on her living side. “No one’s going anywhere, and they’ll be ecstatic to see you.”

The temperature dropped another ten degrees without warning, the sudden chill startling. He barely restrained a shiver, but something of his reaction must still have shown since Hel’s lips pinched worriedly.

“You can leave,” she said with a small smile. “I’ll see you soon.”

He felt horribly guilty for leaving practically immediately, but it was rapidly getting colder, and there was no way he’d be in any decent shape to help her out. Besides, she’d suggested it and understood, so he took the out and left. But not without giving her one last smile.

The kitchen, when he arrived back at the tower, bore all the signs of having been abandoned halfway through someone’s attempt at cleaning up. Evidently he’d been gone long enough for the kids to finish breakfast.

Apparently they’d still gone for pancakes, since maple syrup could be found on the countertops and on one of the chairs as well. There was also sugar spilled on the floor, but at least there wasn’t any pancake mix left.

It was kind of surprising that Jarvis hadn’t actually cleaned everything up, but it was possible that something had distracted him.

There was a small hiss, and Jormungandr poked his head out from under the cushion of the nearest chair that  _somebody_ had put in the kitchen, tongue flicking out.

“I have several questions,” Gabriel said. “Did you bring that up here just to hide in it?”

Jormungandr retreated back under the cushion.

“That’s not an answer.”

There wasn’t even a hiss this time, so Gabriel just left him to it. If Jormungandr had gone to the effort of dragging a chair into the kitchen, then Fenris and Sleipnir had to be up to something as well.

“Where’d everybody go, JARVIS?” Gabriel asked, avoiding a sticky patch on the floor. “I didn’t think I was gone that long.”

There was an electronic crackle that was JARVIS’s equivalent of a long-suffering sigh. “You weren’t, sir, but I’m afraid a great deal happened in your absence. Namely a food fight that had been instigated by Dummy, which was followed by a rousing game of hide-and-seek under the presumption that it would let our new arrivals explore the tower and ‘learn about the modern era and its gizmos.’” The last bit was evidently a quote from Dummy.

“And you sat out, huh?” Gabriel asked, bending down in front of the chair. Only the tip of Jormungandr’s nose was visible. “What about the rest of the crew?”

“While they originally intended on staying out of the game, they were pulled into it by Dummy. At the moment Captain Rogers is pretending not to notice Fenris behind his curtains, and Dr. Banner has turned off the lights in his lab for Sleipnir.”

“And Jormungandr’s here in the kitchen.” Gabriel politely didn’t mention that his hiding place was rather obvious for anyone well-versed in hide-and-seek. “Any issues with the rest of the team?”

“None so far.” JARVIS sounded pleased about that. “Anything that may have come up was forestalled by Dummy and Butterfingers. Sam helped as well by demanding a piggyback ride from Captain Rogers. You provided distractions when necessary. I assume your mission went well?”

Jormungandr poked his head out at that, peering inquisitively up at Gabriel and flicking his tongue out. If he could talk in snake form, he’d probably have just demanded,  _Well?_

Unable to help a smile, Gabriel rested a gentle hand on Jormungandr’s head. “Yeah, it did. Hel’ll drop by when she’s ready.”

Jormungandr didn’t make a sound, but the way he butted his head up against Gabriel’s hand spoke volumes. He would undoubtedly be grinning if snakes could do that.

“I look forward to meeting her,” JARVIS said. “Shall I pass on the news?”

“Nah, I’ll track ’em down myself.” Gabriel patted Jormungandr. “You wanna come with me, or are you good in the chair?”

By way of an answer, Jormungandr wound himself around Gabriel’s arm, shrinking slightly as he did so.

“I will take that as you demanding to come with me,” Gabriel declared. “Let’s hope nobody switches hiding spaces too often, or this is going to turn into an adventure.”

* * *

Finding Fenris was easy enough, since he had just relocated elsewhere on Steve’s floor to hide behind a different set of curtains. Namely, the curtains for Steve’s shower, since Steve insisted on an old-fashioned shower instead of the high-tech setup other people had.

Steve was wandering around outside, making loud, contemplative noises and occasionally glancing at the closed bathroom door with an amused grin. He brightened upon seeing Gabriel, giving Jormungandr a friendly smile and a nod.

“Here to join the game?” Steve asked. “Peggy’s trying to track Fenris down upstairs, but we haven’t had any luck.” He looked back at Jormungandr. “I see you found one already.”

“Nah, he found me. Just wanted to share some good news.” Gabriel raised his voice so Fenris could hear. “Hel’s moved in, so she’ll be around once she’s settled and ready.”

There was a faint noise from the bathroom that sounded suspiciously like an excited skitter of claws on tile, before Fenris apparently remembered that he was meant to be hiding.

“That’s good,” Steve said enthusiastically. “We should have a big dinner tonight, you know, try and get everyone in the same place for a little while.”

“That sounds like it’s a recipe for disaster,” Gabriel told him. “I’m all for it. I’ll tell Pepper not to schedule anything important for tonight.”

“I have sent her an email notification,” JARVIS announced.

“You’re the best!” Gabriel aimed a thumbs up at the nearest camera.

“Thank you, sir.”

“I’m guessing you’re planning on telling the others?” Steve asked.

“Yep, soon as I can figure out where they’re hiding.” Gabriel shot him a wink where Jormungandr couldn’t see it.

“Ask Bruce; I’m pretty sure he saw Sleipnir somewhere around.” Steve shot him a sly sidelong look, and opened his mouth.

“Don’t,” Gabriel said, before Steve could speak.

“I was only going to say—”

“Yeah, plenty have,” Gabriel said. “It never happened.”

“Oh. Really?” Steve switched tracks from teasing to mildly embarrassed in a heartbeat.

“Yup.” Gabriel took pity on him. “And as far as I’m concerned, neither did this conversation.” He waved over his shoulder as he turned. “I’ll check the lab – see you later!”

Steve might have waved back, but Gabriel was already gone.

The lights were on in Bruce’s lab when he got there, but he didn’t see Sleipnir anywhere.

“Clint and Natasha offered to show him how the vents work,” Bruce said, looking up from his lab work to give Gabriel a small smile. “Or, at least, that’s what I heard. I wasn’t able to find him.”

“Fantastic,” Gabriel said. “Another kid crawling around in the vents is just what I needed.”

Bruce shrugged. “If it wasn’t them, one of the bots probably would have brought someone up there eventually. Besides, Sleipnir’s older, isn’t he? I’m sure he’ll be more responsible.”

“Riiight.” Gabriel raised his eyebrows slowly, fixing him with a disbelieving look.

“At least he doesn’t seem the type to think putting the litter box in the vents is a good idea,” Bruce pointed out.

“Small victories, huh?”

“Yes.” Bruce’s face clearly said he was remembering how the rooms had smelled with a litter box in the ventilation system. That the cats had somehow managed to get into the system as well to  _use_  the box was something else. “So, did you want something? Did everything work out with the errand you had to run?”

“Yep. We’re gonna have a big dinner this evening; everyone’s invited.”

“Isn’t…that seems like it might be bad idea?”

“Which makes it awesome by default.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works.”

Gabriel shrugged dismissively. “I say it does, so.”

“Still not how it works,” Bruce repeated, amused. “Unless you feel like rearranging the universe just to be right, which I’d appreciate if you didn’t do, because it would probably mess up my experiment.”

“As long as you’re done in time for dinner, I promise not to interfere with it.” Gabriel drew an X over his heart.

Bruce shot a glance at his watch, brow furrowing. “Okay, done deal. So long as you don’t come down here on the dot and mess it up because I’m ‘late’ by a few seconds.”

“I’ll give you a five minute grace period.”

“Gee, thanks.” Bruce shot him a wry look, raising an eyebrow. After a moment, he added sincerely, “I’m looking forward to it.”

Hearing a distant clang and curse from Clint, followed shortly by stifled snickering that sounded suspiciously like Natasha and a snort that had to be from Sleipnir, Gabriel couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, so am I.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me and inukagome paused after she wrote that last line, and then I said "you know...that's a good line to end on." So here, sadly, we are. 
> 
> To be honest, I'd be perfectly willing to write 8k of nothing but the boys getting up to Shenanigans in the tower, but hey, everything's gotta stop somewhere (of course, if you guys are persuasive enough, inukagome and I might collab again on that time-travel idea we had a while ago, once Ouroboros is finished...).
> 
> _That, er, time travel idea...thingie...is more of a fun idea that I had while we were writing this. You guys can see what she and I did on[thelastarchangelaskblog](http://thelastarchangelaskblog.tumblr.com/post/139578879730/wizard-fallen-angel-thelastarchangelaskblog), and Alatar kindly located the actual post. :D It's more brainstorming than anything else. I have some other more important stories in mind first (which doesn't include  Ouroboros since that's mostly finished and is just posting now)._   
>  _Also, I feel like I should apologize... If you guys go straight to Ouroboros after reading this, it's major emotional whiplash._
> 
> _Please let us know what you thought! :D_


End file.
